A/HRC/27/57 (b) Displacements of populations; (c) Widespread damage to societies and economies; (d) The need for large-scale, multifaceted humanitarian assistance; (e) The hindrance or prevention of humanitarian assistance by political and military constraints, particularly in post-conflict situations; (f) Significant security risks for humanitarian relief workers in some areas.7 20. Humanitarian action is assistance, protection and advocacy action undertaken on an impartial basis in response to human needs resulting from complex political emergencies and natural hazards.8 Humanitarian assistance is aid to a stricken population that complies with the basic humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality and neutrality. Assistance can be divided into three categories based on the degree of contact with the stricken population: direct assistance is the face-to-face distribution of goods and services; indirect assistance is at least one step removed from the population and involves such activities as transporting relief goods or relief personnel; and infrastructure support, which involves providing general services that facilitate relief, such as road repair, airspace management and power generation, but that are not necessarily visible to or solely for the benefit of the stricken population.9 21. Internal displacement is the involuntary movement of people, inside their own country, after having been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence. The movement may result from a variety of causes, including natural or man-made disasters, armed conflict or situations of generalized violence.10 22. Technological or man-made disasters are technological or man-made hazards, such as complex emergencies or conflicts, famine, displaced populations, industrial accidents and transport accidents,11 which are caused by humans and occur in or close to human settlements. They can include environmental degradation, pollution and related accidents. 23. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights considers that when human rights violations are a consequence of conflict situations,12 the sequence of events is as follows: (a) Human rights violations as causes of conflict; (b) Humanitarian crises; (c) New violations occur as a result of conflict and humanitarian crises; (d) Pre-existing human rights issues are exacerbated; (e) Human rights promotion and protection are an objective of peace agreements. 24. The Office considers that when human rights violations are a consequence of natural disasters, the sequence of events is as follows: (a) 7 8 9 10 11 12 Natural disaster; See http://humanitariancoalition.ca/info-portal/factsheets/what-is-a-humanitarian-crisis. ReliefWeb Glossary of Humanitarian Terms. Available from http://reliefweb.int/report/world/reliefweb-glossary-humanitarian-terms. See www.who.int/hac/about/definitions/en/. See www.unhcr.org/4c2355229.pdf. See www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/disaster-management/about-disasters/definition-of-hazard/. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/HR_in_armed_conflict.pdf. 7