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.
Country guide
ArgentinaArgentina's Código 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...Open the guideCountry guide
AustraliaAustralian law is made mostly by states and territories. The Northern Territory Criminal Code makes it an offence to callously fail to rescue a person urgently in need,...Open the guideCountry guide
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....Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
ChileChile's Código 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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
ColombiaColombia's Código 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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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....Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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,...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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....Open the guideCountry guide
MexicoMexico's Código Penal Federal contains a provision on failing to help an injured or endangered person, punished with community-service days rather than prison. Federal...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
NigeriaNigeria's Criminal Code creates duties to provide necessaries of life only for people who have charge of another person, not for strangers generally. A 2017 federal Act...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
PortugalPortugal's Código Penal (art. 200) makes failing to give needed help in a situation of grave necessity a crime. Lei n.º 71/98 sets the legal framework for volunteering,...Open the guideCountry guide
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 11 August 1995, now...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
SpainSpain's Criminal Code (Ley Orgánica 10/1995) makes failing to help a person who is helpless and in manifest, grave danger a criminal offense when help can be given...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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)....Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideCountry guide
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...Open the guideNo country matches that yet.
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