EUROPA

SUMMARY

With the Community aid managed by the EC and the bilateral aid offered by Member States, the European Union (EU) is collectively the world's leading humanitarian donor. In 2006 it contributed over 2 billion, or more than 40% of overall international humanitarian assistance.

This places particular responsibility and expectations on the EU, notably in the face of the new challenges raised by changes in the crisis landscape, namely:

• the greater frequency with which humanitarian crises occur, linked to poverty, climate change and competition for access to natural resources;
• the increasing disregard for or violation of international and humanitarian law;
• the encroachment of humanitarian space * that makes access to vulnerable populations more difficult and affects the protection and safety of humanitarian workers.

The future European Consensus would lay down the common values and principles underlying the humanitarian action of the EU, aiming in this way to reinforce the complementarity between Member States' and Community humanitarian action and enhance the effectiveness of the EU aid effort.

Create a common vision

To ensure a common vision of humanitarian action the Commission suggests, as a basis for the future Consensus, that the EU should:

• uphold and promote fundamental humanitarian principles *, particularly those of humanity *, neutrality *, impartiality * and independence *;
• advocate respect of international law, especially international humanitarian law;
• ensure the coherence, complementarity and effectiveness of policies connected with humanitarian aid (e.g. crisis management and food security), while stressing that there is a difference between them and humanitarian aid (principle of independence).

The Commission notes that the effectiveness and impact of the provision of aid could be considerably enhanced by strengthening coordination between the Commission and the Member States and sharing experience actively.

Given that the EU clearly operates in an international context, the Commission wants it to confirm its commitment to Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) and assess its implementation of humanitarian aid in a GHD perspective. It should also continue to support multiple implementing partners for effective provision of humanitarian aid.

Translating principles into practice

Recalling that humanitarian aid must be supplied in an appropriate and effective manner so as to provide immediate help to victims, the Commission wants the EU to:

• commit to adequate provision of humanitarian aid, on the basis of agreed minimum standards of assistance and protection;
• establish a common framework for assessing needs and sharing expert analysis;
• ensure an overall balanced response, with a special focus on "forgotten crises" *;

The Commission also stresses the importance of good coordination between all the partners responsible for delivering humanitarian aid on the ground, including European and local NGOs, the UN (whose Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, plays a key role) and the Red Cross / Red Crescent Movement. To ensure speed and quality in the delivery of humanitarian aid, implementing partners should be selected on the basis of:

• professionalism, experience and capacity to respond to an identified need;
• adherence to international standards and guidelines;
• cost-efficiency (e.g. overheads in proportion to the aid going to recipients);
• local partnership and context;
• accountability to aid recipients and European public opinion;
• transparency on results.

One essential aspect of humanitarian action is the speed with which the aid can be delivered. To increase the EU's crisis response capacities, the Commission underlines the importance of local capacity. The EU also needs to increase its response capacities and help plug capacity gaps at global level, in particular in the fields of transport, communications and logistics. In this context, the EC is already reinforcing DG ECHO 's experts network and strengthening the response capacities of six regional EC Delegations.

Humanitarian actors are increasingly making use of Member States' civil protection and military resources and assets. The EC recommends military means should be used only as a last resort, when the humanitarian actors are not able to respond to the needs of a crisis on their own. Civil protection and military resources should support and complement the work of the humanitarian organisations in line with agreed international principles and guidelines. The EU especially encourages adherence to UN guidelines on the use of civil defence and military means in natural disasters (Oslo guidelines) and complex crises (Military and Civil Defence Assets Directives ).

Reducing the risks associated with natural disasters is another essential component of humanitarian action because these disasters are becoming more frequent, largely on account of climate change. In this context, the EC recommends promoting international efforts within the Hyogo Framework for Action* to increase coping capacity at the local, regional and national levels. The EU should also mainstream disaster-risk reduction in its humanitarian and development operations, as stated in the European Development Consensus, and ensure that adequate EU funding is made available for disaster preparedness and risk-reduction activities.

Finally, the EU should reinforce the link between disaster relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD) through a framework for advancing practical approaches to LRRD based on experiences and lessons learnt, in conjunction with improved practical cooperation between humanitarian and development agencies and other aid actors at field level (especially in situations of complex crisis and state fragility).

Background

The EU's humanitarian aid policy is governed by Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/96. Because the policy is linked closely to other policy areas, including crisis management, food security, development, the promotion of human rights and public health, it is important to ensure coherence and complementarity with humanitarian action. Coherence also needs to be ensured with other external aid instruments, notably the Stability Instrument and the Development and Cooperation Instrument.