Joint Statement by the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 25/1

Humanitarian aid is a fundamental expression of the universal value of solidarity between people and a moral imperative.

Humanitarian crises include both man-made and natural disasters. Their impact is increasingly severe, linked to a number of factors, such as the changing nature of conflict, climate change, increasing competition for access to energy and natural resources, extreme poverty, poor governance and situations of fragility. The main victims are civilians, often the poorest and most vulnerable among them, mainly living in developing countries. Humanitarian crises have led to large numbers of displaced people, both refugees and internally displaced persons.

Humanitarian actors today face a number of major challenges. There has been an increasing tendency for International Law, including International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights Law and Refugee Law, to be ignored or blatantly violated. The ‘humanitarian space’ that is needed to ensure access to vulnerable populations and the safety and security of humanitarian workers must be preserved as essential preconditions for the delivery of humanitarian aid, and for the European Union (EU) and its partners in the humanitarian field to be able to get assistance including protection to crisis-hit people, based on respect for the principles of neutrality, impartiality, humanity and independence of humanitarian action, enshrined in International Law, in particular International Humanitarian Law.

Humanitarian aid provided by the EU is a shared competence between the Member States and the European Community (1). It builds upon a long tradition and reflects the diversity of its actors. EU humanitarian action is framed in an overall international approach that brings together the United Nations, the Red Cross/Crescent movement, humanitarian NGOs and others, in support of local responses to humanitarian crises through a partnership approach with the affected communities. National authorities in countries faced with crisis retain the primary responsibility for protecting populations confronting disaster.

Collectively the EU provides the largest share of current official international humanitarian aid, comprised of Community and EU Member State bilateral contributions. As such the EU has both the experience and the duty to ensure that its overall contribution to the humanitarian response is effective and appropriate, underpins the international humanitarian effort to deliver aid to people in need, and addresses adequately the challenges facing humanitarian actors today.

The European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid provides a common vision that guides the action of the EU, both at its Member States and Community levels, in humanitarian aid in third countries. This common vision is the subject of the first part of the Statement; the second part sets out the European Community humanitarian aid approach to guide implementation of this vision at the Community level and further specifies priorities for concrete action at the Community level.

The European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid is jointly agreed by the Council and the representatives of the governments of the Member States meeting within the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission. In doing so, we seek to confirm our commitment to the principles underpinning EU humanitarian aid, to enhance existing commitments for good donor practice across the EU, in partnership with other...