The impact on populations and humanitarian organisations
People depend on access to reliable and timely information, whether they face armed conflict or other violence, disaster, epidemics, water scarcity or contamination, food insecurity or other crises or emergencies. In many settings, the impact of harmful information is felt first by individuals who are already suffering the effects of these crises.
The spread of harmful information can result in people having more difficulty gaining access to assistance, being more exposed to discrimination or violence, or trusting less in those providing humanitarian services.
Five types of harm
Physical harm: Small arms attacks, extrajudicial killings, attacks amounting to genocide or crimes against humanity, torture, sexual or gender-based violence, abductions, destruction of goods essential to civilian survival, blocking access to asylum procedures, disrupting lifesaving humanitarian assistance.
Economic harm: Theft, property destruction, blocking or limiting access to employment, forced evictions, restriction of telecommunications and internet access, limiting access to essential services.
Psychological harm: Anxiety, fear of bodily harm or retaliation, powerlessness, depression, sleeplessness, inability to make day-to-day decisions, security threats such as death threats or bomb threats, denial of harmful events, corpse desecration.
Social or cultural harm: Acts of discrimination, deportation, displacement, forced evictions or refoulement, desecration of cultural property.
Societal harm: Restriction of access to the internet or widely trafficked websites, patterns of discriminatory acts, rejecting peace agreements.
The harm to humanitarian organisations
Irrespective of the country, the region, the prominence, or the media literacy rate, all Movement components are subject to harmful information. Anything that affects any component of the RCRC Movement directly influences the ability to serve those in need. The principle of neutrality is difficult to maintain in a highly polarized environment. Weaponization of information can damage the Movement’s reputation and the wider humanitarian sector for political and ideological motives.
There have been numerous instances worldwide where harmful narratives have resulted in intimidation and harassment of Movement staff and volunteers, doxing of staff members, withholding of funding, politicization of humanitarian aid, the spread of rumours encouraging potentially harmful acts against humanitarian operations, and restrictions on humanitarian access.
How the Movement Hub on Harmful Information emerged from fragmented responses to a coordinated initiative, launched in April 2026 by the Swiss Red Cross.
