World Humanitarian Summit: European Union commits to action
The EU announces support for all World Humanitarian Summit core commitments and pledges 100 EU-specific action commitments as its contribution to help reshape international aid.
Worldwide, over 125 million men, women and children are in need of humanitarian assistance.
On 23-24 May, the first World Humanitarian Summit takes place in Istanbul, Turkey. Over 50 world leaders and some 5,000 humanitarian, development and political stakeholders are gathering to seek ways to reverse the trend of ever-increasing humanitarian needs and to make the international aid system more efficient and effective.
The European Union has announced itssupport for all core commitments put forward by the United Nations, and pledged individual commitments at the Summit.
The key priorities advanced by the EU include: investment in resilience, efficient and effective financing, respect for International Humanitarian Law, preventing and ending crises, and bridging the divide between humanitarian and development work.
The EU also welcomes the launch of the " Grand Bargain" at the Summit and is ready to help tackle the funding gap in humanitarian action, estimated to be USD15 billion by the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel (HLP) on Humanitarian Financing, which the "Grand Bargain" will try to address.
The EU is one of the first donors to have reached in 2016 the global target of four per cent of humanitarian funding earmarked for education. With the announcement of its €5 million of support to the 'Education Cannot Wait - A Fund for Education in Emergencies' platform, the European Union has taken further concrete action to support this priority at the World Humanitarian Summit.
The EU has reconfirmed at the Summit that the EU is in the process of mobilising a grant contribution of more than €500 million to support countries most affected by the current food security crisis caused by El Niño.
The European Commission is represented at the Summit by Vice-President for Budget and Human Resources, Kristalina Georgieva; Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica; and Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides.
On the occasion of the Summit, the Vice-President and the Commissioners issued a joint statement welcoming the political communiqué that was adopted and calling on all involved to "roll up our sleeves and transform the Summit commitments into concrete action."