By country
Country guides.
What each government and legal system actually does about helping strangers: whether the law asks you to help, whether it protects you when you do, and how the state promotes giving and service.
Plain-language summaries of public sources, with links to the laws and official pages. Not legal advice. They do not rank countries, and no government has endorsed this site.
Africa 6 countries
Africa
EthiopiaEthiopia's Criminal Code of 2004 includes an offense of failing to lend aid to a person in grave peril when help could be given without risk. Proclamation No. 1113/2019...Duty: LimitedHelpers: None found
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GhanaGhana's 1992 Constitution lists duties of citizens, including a duty to contribute to the well-being of the community where the citizen lives. The Criminal Code of 1960...Duty: LimitedHelpers: None found
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KenyaKenya's statute books place the word "Harambee" (Swahili, commonly rendered as pulling together) on the national coat of arms and list it among protected national words....Duty: LimitedHelpers: None found
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NigeriaNigeria's Criminal Code creates duties to provide necessaries of life only for people who have charge of another person, not for strangers generally. The Compulsory...Duty: LimitedHelpers: Limited
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RwandaRwanda's Penal Code makes it an offense to fail to help a person in danger when help is possible without risk. Official government pages describe Umuganda, a monthly...Duty: YesHelpers: None found
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South AfricaSouth Africa's Constitutional Court discussed ubuntu at length in S v Makwanyane (1995). The Nonprofit Organisations Act 1997 aims to create an environment in which...Duty: LimitedHelpers: None found
Open the guideAmericas 7 countries
Americas
ArgentinaArgentina's C贸digo Penal punishes failing to help a lost or abandoned child under ten, or an injured, disabled or endangered person, with a fine. Ley 25.855 on social...Duty: LimitedHelpers: None found
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BrazilBrazil's Penal Code makes failing to help someone in need an offense (article 135, omissao de socorro), and the Constitution lists building a solidary society among its...Duty: YesHelpers: None found
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CanadaCanada's duties to help are narrow: the Criminal Code duty to provide necessaries covers dependents, while Quebec's Charter creates a general duty to assist a person...Duty: Varies by regionHelpers: Varies by region
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ChileChile's C贸digo Penal lists, among minor offenses, failing to help a person found wounded, mistreated or in danger of perishing in an unpopulated place. Ley 19.885 gives...Duty: LimitedHelpers: None found
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ColombiaColombia's C贸digo Penal makes it a crime to fail, without just cause, to help a person whose life or health is in grave danger, and the Constitution lists acting with...Duty: YesHelpers: None found
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MexicoMexico's C贸digo Penal Federal contains a provision on failing to help an injured or endangered person, punished with community-service days rather than prison. Federal...Duty: LimitedHelpers: None found
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United StatesThere is no general federal duty to help a stranger, but a few states have narrow duty statutes, and federal and state laws protect some volunteers and food donors from...Duty: Varies by regionHelpers: Varies by region
Open the guideAsia 11 countries
Asia
BangladeshThe Bangladesh Penal Code text reviewed has no general offense of failing to help a stranger. Documents reviewed show a statutory basis for a government-run volunteer...Duty: No general duty foundHelpers: Limited
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ChinaThe Civil Code of the People's Republic of China (adopted 2020, in force January 1, 2021) includes a provision on emergency aid under which an aider who causes harm...Duty: No general duty foundHelpers: Yes
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IndiaSection 134A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (inserted by the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019) protects a Good Samaritan from civil or criminal action for harm...Duty: LimitedHelpers: Limited
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IndonesiaIndonesia's new Criminal Code (Law 1 of 2023) contains a provision punishing a person who witnesses someone in mortal danger and gives no help that could be given...Duty: LimitedHelpers: Limited
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JapanJapan's Act on Promotion of Specified Non-profit Activities (Act No. 7 of 1998) gives legal personality to citizen organizations doing volunteer-style public-interest...Duty: LimitedHelpers: Limited
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PakistanThe Pakistan Penal Code reviewed here contains no general offense of failing to help a stranger in danger. Federal and provincial documents reviewed show a compulsory...Duty: No general duty foundHelpers: Limited
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PhilippinesThe Revised Penal Code (Act No. 3815) has an offense for failing to help a person found wounded or in danger of dying in an uninhabited place. Republic Act 9418, the...Duty: LimitedHelpers: None found
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SingaporeSingapore has no dedicated Good Samaritan law; the Ministry of Law has said its laws do not raise major liability concerns for people who help in good faith. The...Duty: No general duty foundHelpers: None found
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South KoreaSouth Korea's Emergency Medical Service Act requires any person who finds an emergency case to report it and to cooperate with emergency personnel, and Article 5-2...Duty: LimitedHelpers: Limited
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ThailandSection 374 of Thailand's Penal Code makes it an offense to see another person in danger of losing their life and fail to give necessary help that could be given without...Duty: YesHelpers: Limited
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VietnamVietnam's Criminal Code creates a specific offense for failing to assist a person in peril when the failure results in that person's death. Statute texts reviewed also...Duty: LimitedHelpers: Limited
Open the guideEurope 17 countries
Europe
AustriaSection 95 of the Austrian Criminal Code punishes failing to give obviously necessary help in an accident or common danger, unless help cannot reasonably be expected....Duty: YesHelpers: Limited
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DenmarkThe Danish Criminal Code punishes failing to help a person in obvious danger of death when help is possible without special danger or sacrifice. Municipalities are...Duty: YesHelpers: Limited
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FinlandFinnish law has both a criminal offense for failing to help a person known to be in mortal danger and a general duty in the Rescue Act to alert those in danger, call for...Duty: YesHelpers: Limited
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FranceFrench criminal law makes it an offense to deliberately fail to help a person in peril when one could do so without risk to oneself or others. A 2020 law gives anyone...Duty: YesHelpers: Yes
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GermanySection 323c of the Strafgesetzbuch punishes failing to render assistance in an accident, common danger or emergency when help is necessary and reasonable to expect....Duty: YesHelpers: Limited
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GreeceThe Greek Penal Code (Law 4619/2019) punishes failing to save another person from danger to life when this is possible without danger to one's own life or health, and...Duty: YesHelpers: None found
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IrelandThe Law Reform Commission's 2009 report describes no general legal duty in Irish law to intervene and rescue a stranger. Part IVA of the Civil Liability Act 1961,...Duty: No general duty foundHelpers: Yes
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ItalyItaly's Codice penale (art. 593) makes failing to assist or alert the authorities about an injured or endangered person a criminal offense. The Codice del Terzo settore...Duty: YesHelpers: Limited
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NetherlandsThe Dutch Criminal Code contains a narrow provision, Article 450, on failing to help a person in immediate danger of death. The central government publishes information...Duty: LimitedHelpers: Limited
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NorwayThe Norwegian Penal Code of 2005 makes it an offense to fail to help a person in obvious danger of losing their life or suffering serious injury, up to the limit of...Duty: YesHelpers: Limited
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PolandPoland's Kodeks karny (art. 162) makes failing to help a person in immediate danger of death or grave bodily harm a crime, and the Act on State Medical Rescue adds a...Duty: YesHelpers: Yes
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PortugalPortugal's C贸digo Penal (art. 200) makes failing to give needed help in a situation of grave necessity a crime. Lei n.潞 71/98 sets the legal framework for volunteering,...Duty: YesHelpers: Limited
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RussiaThe Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contains a narrow offense of leaving a helpless person in danger (art. 125). Federal Law No. 135-FZ of August 11, 1995, now...Duty: LimitedHelpers: Limited
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SpainSpain's Criminal Code (Ley Org谩nica 10/1995) makes failing to help a person who is helpless and in manifest, grave danger a criminal offense when help can be given...Duty: YesHelpers: Limited
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SwedenSwedish law places a duty on anyone who discovers a fire or an accident endangering life to warn those in danger and call for help if possible, and it lets the state...Duty: LimitedHelpers: Limited
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SwitzerlandSwiss federal criminal law makes it an offense not to help a person in immediate danger to life when help could reasonably be expected (Art. 128 of the Criminal Code)....Duty: YesHelpers: Limited
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United KingdomThe sources checked describe a general rule in negligence of no liability for pure omissions, so there is no broad duty to help a stranger. Parliament has told courts in...Duty: No general duty foundHelpers: Limited
Open the guideMiddle East and North Africa 5 countries
Middle East and North Africa
EgyptLaw No. 149 of 2019 on the practice of civil work governs associations and civil institutions and includes a definition of voluntary work, a tax deduction for donations...Duty: No general duty foundHelpers: None found
Open the guideMiddle East and North Africa
IsraelIsrael's 1998 Law Not to Stand Idly By on the Blood of Your Neighbor sets a general duty to help a person in immediate serious danger when one can do so without...Duty: YesHelpers: Limited
Open the guideMiddle East and North Africa
Saudi ArabiaVision 2030 sets a national volunteering target, supported by a National Volunteer Platform run by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development. A 2015 Law on...Duty: LimitedHelpers: None found
Open the guideMiddle East and North Africa
TurkeyThe Turkish Penal Code (Law No. 5237) contains a general offense of failing to help or report a person unable to care for themselves (art. 98). Charitable associations...Duty: YesHelpers: None found
Open the guideMiddle East and North Africa
United Arab EmiratesThe UAE federal government has a Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence that oversees the Cabinet-endorsed National Tolerance Program, a federal law on volunteering...Duty: Varies by regionHelpers: Not verified
Open the guideOceania 2 countries
Oceania
AustraliaAustralian law is made mostly by states and territories. The Northern Territory Criminal Code makes it an offense to callously fail to rescue a person urgently in need,...Duty: Varies by regionHelpers: Varies by region
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New ZealandNew Zealand's Crimes Act 1961 imposes duties to provide necessaries and take care on people who have charge of others or who undertake dangerous acts. The Charities Act...Duty: LimitedHelpers: None found
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