Luxembourg's development cooperation - Annual report 2017

In 2017, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs had a total budget of 42 million euros earmarked for humanitarian interventions. 41,83 million has been spent on supporting humanitarian interventions in various countries in the three phases of a humanitarian crisis, in line with the three pillars set out in Luxembourg’s humanitarian action 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 2017 amounted to 48,53 million euros.

2017 was dominated by the response to humanitarian crises, especially in Syria, Iraq and the DRC, the Rohingya crisis and the famine that threatened 20 million people in Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia. For all these humanitarian contexts, the government made substantial funding available to carry out Luxembourg NGOs’ emergency projects and to support the humanitarian operations of the UN agencies and the ICRC.

2017 was the year when the new strategic partnership agreements (concluded for a period of four years) entered into force. These multi-annual agreements are part of the close relations that Luxembourg maintains with specific preferred partners in the humanitarian field. Thus a large part of the humanitarian action budget is traditionally allocated to UN agencies, in particular the World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). These agreements enable Luxembourg to respond to international requirements in terms of budget predictability and to ensure continued support for humanitarian activities.

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.

In March 2017, Luxembourg submitted its first report on the implementation of the commitments made at the World Humanitarian Summit held in May 2016. Luxembourg pledged support for all the fundamental commitments at the heart of the “Agenda for Humanity” and made 45 national commitments. Luxembourg also maintained its participation in the “Grand Bargain” initiative, an agreement between implementing agencies and donors to make humanitarian aid more effective and predictable.

At the European level, Luxembourg also took part in the work on the new European strategy on resilience, emphasising the importance of implementing Agenda 2030 and including the “conflict and crisis prevention” aspect. In addition, Luxembourg closely monitored the work on the “nexus”, particularly the drafting of the European Council’s conclusions on the “development - humanitarian action” link. Luxembourg thus supported improved coordination and greater complementarity between the actions of the development and humanitarian action actors.

As in previous years, the Luxembourg government made an annual contribution to the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which enables the UN to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches people affected by global crises as quickly as possible. In addition, in order to contribute better to address the most urgent needs in Yemen, in 2017 Luxembourg contributed for the first time to the Yemen Humanitarian Pooled Fund managed by the UN.