Alarmed by the exponential growth in humanitarian needs around the world, the EU Council is calling for the glaring funding gap to be closed by means of greater efficiency and a larger number of donors.
In conclusions adopted on Monday 22 May, it endorses the Commission’s March 2022 Communication (see EUROPE 12917/21) and recommends, among other things, that the efficacy of the humanitarian system be strengthened through a needs-based approach and transparency.
In order to reduce humanitarian needs, it advocates addressing the root causes of humanitarian crises.
The EU Council is also encouraging Member States to contribute at a level commensurate with their financial means and to ensure that an appropriate share of their official development assistance is devoted to humanitarian action, on the basis of existing humanitarian needs.
The European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, who had called on the international community to do more and to do it better (see EUROPE 12938/11), welcomed the conclusions. The European Parliament’s Development Committee is taking the same approach (see EUROPE 13132/23)
Last weekend, the G7 summit in Hiroshima expressed its determination to address the unprecedented number of humanitarian crises, while focussing on women, girls and people in vulnerable situations and pledging to provide more than $21 billion by 2023, including aid in response to urgent food crises.
See the EU Council conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/702
And those of the G7: https://aeur.eu/f/703 Original version in French by Aminata Niang)