A/HRC/28/76 the stricken population.19 The European Union for its part interprets the term “humanitarian aid” as including traditional responses to humanitarian crisis, that is, material relief assistance and services as shelters, water and medicines; emergency food aid at short-term distribution and supplementary feeding programmes; relief coordination, protection and support services like coordination, logistics and communications; reconstruction relief and rehabilitation, which involves repairing pre-existing infrastructure as opposed to longerterm activities designed to improve the level of infrastructure; and disaster prevention and preparedness in terms of disaster risk reduction, early warning systems, contingency stocks and planning.20 26. Irrespective of the terminology used, all humanitarian responses have the same objective: to save lives, to alleviate suffering and to maintain and protect human dignity during and in the aftermath of emergencies. They are guided by the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. Furthermore, during emergencies, the timeliness of humanitarian aid and the protection of vulnerable groups become vital, particularly at the stage of rescue. IV. Affected populations 27. Persons affected by and victims of conflicts and disasters include internally displaced persons, who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or manmade disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border, refugees, and stateless persons. 28. There are other groups of people who are particularly vulnerable in post-conflict and post-emergency situations. “Vulnerable groups” refers to all those persons that can be at risk and affected by the negative effects of disasters or conflicts. Their vulnerability will depend on their social, economic, political, cultural and ethnic position. Humanitarian action in all post-disaster or post-conflict settings should pay particular attention to women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, minorities and LGBTI persons. It is also essential that affected populations are sensitized to the fact that they are rights-holders, not mere beneficiaries of charitable action. A. Women and girls 29. In emergency, post-disaster and post-conflict situations, gender-based discrimination increases the vulnerability of women and girls, including those with disabilities. Protection activities established in this framework by national and international stakeholders should to adopt a holistic approach to address these issues from an institutional perspective with an impact on national policies and regulations, thus avoiding having to limit interventions to specific activities that will only respond partially to the problem. 30. Women and girls must be one of the prioritized groups for humanitarian aid, relief and recovery. Special protection approaches should be considered during the planning process of the response and humanitarian aid. Women’s participation in humanitarian aid 19 20 8 World Health Organization, Humanitarian Health Action, Definitions: emergencies (available from www.who.int/hac/about/definitions/en/). European Commission, Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, “Humanitarian aid”, 15 April 2014 (see http://ec.europa.eu/echo/en/what/humanitarian-aid).