On Wednesday 27 May, the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, adopted a Joint Communication aimed at reforming the European Union’s humanitarian action.
According to the latest UN estimates, 239 million people worldwide will need humanitarian assistance this year, compared with 31 million in 2006. Just as climate shocks and the multiplication of conflicts increase people’s vulnerability, the global humanitarian system, for its part, is “at breaking point” for lack of material and human resources, the Commission warns.
In this context, the new strategy makes the safety of humanitarian workers and respect for international law its absolute priority. Recalling, with respect to humanitarian workers, that, in 2025, “334 persons were killed, 192 injured, 109 kidnapped and 45 unlawfully arrested”, the Commission pledges to step up its humanitarian diplomacy and to turn ‘Protect Aid Workers’ - a global rapid response mechanism supporting humanitarian workers who are victims of violence or direct threats - into a “global programme” for caring for survivors of attacks.
In addition, budgetary constraints require resources to be streamlined. Noting that the duplication of logistics networks by each humanitarian organisation undermines overall efficiency, the Commission wants to encourage actors to pool their tools (joint procurement, shared transport fleets and warehouses) so that aid arrives more quickly and costs less. The EU will therefore roll out a “Humanitarian Supply Chain Charter” and make its funding conditional on greater sharing of logistics data. It also plans to distribute 25% of its funds directly to local actors by 2027 and to generalise cash assistance.
The third pillar aims to break the cycle of aid dependency with respect to aid for third countries by strengthening the nexus between emergency response, development and peace. The Commission will in this way structure an integrated approach to fragility and open up to private financing as well as risk-pooling tools.
“The scale of humanitarian needs calls for a revolution in our aid”, argued Hadja Lahbib, the Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, at a press conference earlier that morning. “We must do things differently: be more efficient, faster, closer to those in need and more inclusive”, she added.
Read the full Communication: https://aeur.eu/f/m23 (Original version in French by Justine Manaud)