Luxembourg's development cooperation - Annual report 2016

In 2016, budget item 01.7.35.060, earmarked for humanitarian interventions, had a budget of 37 million euros. The entire budget was spent on supporting humanitarian interventions in various countries and in the three phases of a humanitarian crisis in line with the three pillars set out in Luxembourg’s humanitarian strategy: emergency relief, transition and prevention. If we add to this the contributions for humanitarian purposes included in the multilateral and DCF budget line, the total amount allocated to humanitarian interventions in 2016 amounted to 48 million euros.

On 18 April 2016, Minister Romain Schneider received the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, for talks on the long-term humanitarian aid cooperation between Luxembourg and the HCR.

2016 was dominated by the preparations for and the follow-up of the World Humanitarian Summit, which took place in Istanbul from 23 to 24 May 2016. At the Summit, attended by Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs Romain Schneider, Luxembourg agreed to all the core commitments and made 45 national commitments. Luxembourg also joined the “Grand Bargain” initiative, an agreement between implementing agencies and donors to make humanitarian aid more effective and predictable.

Both before and after the Summit, Luxembourg continued discussions with its main humanitarian partners based in Luxembourg. These regular consultations led to the creation and adoption of the first ever Humanitarian Charter for Luxembourg.

Luxembourg was also able to display its solidarity at several donor conferences by substantiating its assistance promises. Thus, in February 2016 in London, Luxembourg made a commitment of 7,5 million euros annually until 2020 for the Syrian crisis; in October, Minister Romain Schneider was able to reaffirm Luxembourg’s support to Afghanistan; and in November Luxembourg made a substantial commitment to the CAR for the next three years. During the year, Luxembourg continued to respond to appeals by humanitarian agencies, in particular with a contribution of 250 000 euros to the UNHCR’s response plan for Mosul.

In October 2016, the Ministry also launched a call for proposals in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by Hurricane Matthew in Haiti by making 500 000 euros available for emergency projects run by Luxembourgish NGOs.

Finally, at the end of 2016, Luxembourg concluded its negotiations on the renewal of its five strategic partnership agreements with its main international humanitarian partners, i.e. the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, the World Food Programme, the High Commission for Refugees, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and UNISDR (United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction). These agreements, which cover the period 2017-2020, enable Luxembourg to respond to international requirements in terms of budget predictability and to guarantee continued support for humanitarian activities. This predictability lies at the heart of the commitments that the Luxembourg government made at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016.

The five new agreements involve an annual financial contribution at the same level as that of to previous years. Thus WFP and UNHCR have been allocated annual humanitarian funding of 6 000 000 euros, the ICRC 6 250 000 euros, the OCHA 400 000 euros and the UNISDR 250 000 euros. 

In addition to the annual financial support, the agreements with the WFP, the HCR and OCHA also specify the possibility of using the emergency.lu platform and of developing solutions in the field of information and communication technologies, thereby making an innovative contribution to the effectiveness of the coordination of relief efforts on the ground.