‘volunteer’ means a person who chooses freely and without pecuniary motivation to engage in activities that benefit a community and society at large;

‘candidate volunteer’ means a person eligible in accordance with Article 11(3) to apply for participation in the actions under the EU Aid Volunteers initiative;

‘EU Aid Volunteer’ means a candidate volunteer who has been selected, trained in accordance with the specific standards, procedures and reference criteria, assessed as eligible and registered as available for deployment to support and complement humanitarian aid in third countries;

‘humanitarian aid’ means activities and operations in third countries intended to provide needs-based emergency assistance aimed at preserving life, preventing and alleviating human suffering, and maintaining human dignity in the face of man-made crises or natural disasters. It encompasses assistance, relief and protection operations in humanitarian crises or their immediate aftermath, supporting measures to ensure access to people in need and to facilitate the free flow of assistance, as well as actions aimed at reinforcing disaster preparedness and disaster risk reduction, and contributing towards strengthening resilience and capacity to cope with, and recover from, crises;

‘third country’ means a country outside the Union where humanitarian aid activities and operations referred to in point (d) take place.