The Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO), formerly known as the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office, is the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
's department for overseas
humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and ...
and for
civil protection. It aims to save and preserve life, prevent and alleviate human suffering and safeguard the integrity and dignity of populations affected by natural disasters and man-made crises. Since September 2019,
Janez Lenarčič
Janez Lenarčič (born November 6, 1967) is a Slovenian diplomat who has been serving as European Commissioner for Crisis Management in the Von der Leyen Commission since 2019. He is a former Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions an ...
is serving as Commissioner for Crisis Management in the
Von der Leyen Commission
The von der Leyen Commission is the current European Commission, in office since 1 December 2019 and is to last until the 2024 elections. It has Ursula von der Leyen as its president and it further consists of one commissioner from each of the m ...
.
The EU budget of the department as programmed in the EU's Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 amounts to a total of €9.76 billion for the entire seven years. For 2021, the European Commission has adopted its initial annual humanitarian budget of €1.4 billion. Together with its Member States, DG ECHO is a leading humanitarian donor, allocating funding to millions of crisis-affected people in more than 80 countries.
For its humanitarian interventions, DG ECHO usually funds operations through a wide range of around 200 partners (
NGOs,
UN agencies, and international organisations such as the
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, an ...
. DG ECHO has a strong presence in the field, with a network of some 450 staff in over 500 field offices spread in 40 countries. The field offices provide analysis of existing and forecasted needs in a given country or region, contribute to the development of intervention strategies and policy development, provide technical support to EU-funded operations, and ensure monitoring of these interventions and facilitate donor's coordination at field level.
In addition to providing funding to humanitarian aid, DG ECHO is also in charge of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to coordinate the response to disasters in Europe and beyond and contributes to at least 75% of the transport and/or operational costs of deployments. Established in 2001, the Mechanism fosters cooperation among national civil protection authorities across Europe. Currently 34 countries are members of the Mechanism; all 27 EU Member States in addition to
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
,
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
,
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...
,
Montenegro
)
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,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
and
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
.The Mechanism was set up to enable coordinated assistance from the participating states to victims of natural and man-made disasters in Europe and elsewhere.
History
The European Community Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) was established in 1992 by the
Second Delors Commission. With the
European Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...
being abolished in 2009, the office began to be known as the Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department of the European Commission or European Union, but kept its ECHO abbreviation.
After the EU was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
in 2012, the Barroso Commission accepted the prize money on behalf of the EU and allocated it to a new initiative called Children of Peace. Approximately €2 million was set aside for the Children of Peace projects in 2013. It was increased to €4 million in 2014.
Mandate and Principles
![Canadair CL-415 Kroatien 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Canadair_CL-415_Kroatien_1.JPG)
DG ECHO's mandate is to provide emergency assistance and relief (in the form of goods and services) to victims of conflict and natural or man-made disasters outside the EU. Its civil protection mandate also extends to disaster prevention and preparedness actions, response and post-crisis operations inside the EU and worldwide.
European humanitarian aid and EU funded humanitarian operations are based on compliance with international law, in particular international humanitarian law, and the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.
Humanity means that human suffering must be addressed wherever it is found, with particular attention to the most vulnerable; neutrality means that humanitarian aid must not favour any side in an armed conflict or other dispute;
impartiality means that humanitarian aid must be provided solely on the basis of need, without discrimination; and independence means the autonomy of humanitarian objectives from political, economic, military or other objectives.
In 2007, at the initiative of Commissioner
Louis Michel
Louis Michel (born 2 September 1947) is a Belgian politician. He served in the government of Belgium as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2004 and was European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 2004 to 2009. From 20 ...
, the European Commission adopted a "European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid" to constitute the first European political text of reference on humanitarian aid. NGOs participated actively to the drafting of the European Consensus and it can be considered "the most comprehensive text and the nearest common position to NGOs". The European Consensus reaffirms the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. It also stipulates "humanitarian aid is not a management tool for crises management".
Following its adoption, the Consensus has served as the reference point on the role of humanitarian aid in the EU's broader external action. This was reaffirmed at an event marking the ten years of the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid in 2017. This is also clearly acknowledged in the Commission Communication on the EU’s humanitarian action: new challenges, same principles, which was adopted in March 2021.
Additionally, civil protection was adopted as a part of ECHO's mandate to ensure better cooperation and protection during disaster among third and regional countries and international organisations.
Primary and secondary law
Since the Lisbon Treaty came into force, the EU's humanitarian aid action is ruled by Article 214 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Humanitarian aid is a shared parallel competence: this means that the EU conducts an autonomous policy, which neither prevents the Member States from exercising their competences nor makes the EU's policy merely “complementary” to those of the Member States. The Lisbon Treaty introduced, for the first time, humanitarian aid as a policy in its own right in the Treaties.
As defined in article 214 TFEU, the EU's operations in the field of humanitarian aid are intended to provide ad hoc assistance and relief for people in third countries who are victims of natural or man-made disasters. Article 214 TFEU also makes it clear that EU humanitarian aid operations must be conducted in compliance with the principles of international law and with the principles of impartiality, neutrality and non-discrimination.
The basic act relied upon by DG ECHO to administer EU humanitarian aid finding has been adopted before the Lisbon Treaty and is still mostly in use (setting aside some institutional adaptations to take into account the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty). The 1996 Humanitarian Aid Regulation lays down the objectives and general principles of EU-funded humanitarian aid as well as the procedures for implementing EU-funded humanitarian aid operations. Concerning the latter aspects, the regulation specifies notably the categories of entities eligible to EU humanitarian funding, while referring to the EU Financial Regulation for what concerns most of the contract-related, financial and administrative procedures to be complied with by DG ECHO.
The EU’s competence in the field of Civil Protection is ruled by Article 196 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union Treaty on the functioning of the European Union. The EU has a supporting competence in the field of civil protection. In line with the principle of subsidiarity, the primary responsibility to protecting people, property and the environment, including cultural heritage, lies with the Member States. As part of the 2019 legislative reform, EU Civil Protection was reinforced with the creation of rescEU. The rescEU capacities are available under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and can be deployed as a last-resort mechanism when Member States are overwhelmed by an emergency. In May 2021, the European Parliament and the Council adopted targeted changes to the legislation. As part of this targeted revision, the Emergency Response Coordination Centre’s operational coordination and monitoring role for disasters within and outside the Union was enhanced, as well as the EU role in managing rescEU.
Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC)
![EU Emergency Response Coordination Centre in Brussels](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/EU_Emergency_Response_Coordination_Centre_in_Brussels.jpg)
The Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) coordinates the delivery of assistance to disaster stricken countries, such as relief items, expertise, civil protection teams and specialised equipment. Based in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, the Centre ensures the rapid deployment of emergency support and acts as a coordination hub between all EU Member States, the 6 additional Participating States, the affected country, and civil protection and humanitarian experts. The Centre operates 24/7 and can help any country inside or outside the EU affected by a major disaster upon request from the national authorities, a UN body or a relevant international organisation, such as the
International Organization for Migration
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers.
The IOM was ...
(IOM) or the
.
The Centre ensures cooperation and coherence of EU action at an inter-institutional level, focusing on coordination mechanisms with the European External Action Service, the Council and EU Member States. It also acts as the central 24/7 contact point when the Solidarity Clause is invoked. It also provides emergency communications and monitoring tools through the Common Emergency Communication and Information System (CECIS), a web-based alert and notification application enabling a real-time exchange of information.
The Centre replaced and extended the functions of the former Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC), that was set up in 2013 by then Commission Vice-President
Kristalina Georgieva
Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva-Kinova ( bg, Кристалина Иванова Георгиева-Кинова; ; born 13 August 1953) is a Bulgarian economist serving as managing director of the International Monetary Fund since 2019. She was t ...
in her role as International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Commissioner.
The Centre makes use of various Early Warning and Information Systems, including the EU's
Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated ...
earth observation programme. Through the Copernicus Emergency Management Service, the Centre can make use of high resolution satellite maps to monitor events before they happen, and to assess their impact once they have hit an area.
EU Aid Volunteers
EU Aid Volunteers brings volunteers and organisations together from different countries, providing practical support to humanitarian aid projects and contributing to strengthening local capacity and resilience of disaster-affected communities. Participants in the EU Aid Volunteers initiative must be over 18 years of age and be a citizen of an EU Member State or a long-term resident in the EU. Volunteers receive accommodation and travel expenses, insurance, ongoing learning and development, a monthly allowance, and a resettlement allowance to help with expenses of returning home.
The
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
voted in favour of this initiative in February 2014. EU Aid Volunteers supports humanitarian aid organisations. EU Aid Volunteers projects, run by partners of EU-based and non-EU based organisations, strengthen the capacity of non-EU based organisations to prepare for and respond to humanitarian crises and to improve their volunteer management. It also provides funding for technical assistance to EU-based organisations to strengthen their technical capacity and meet the standards and procedures required to deploy EU Aid Volunteers.
Investing in capacity building of humanitarian organisations, local communities and first responders in disaster-affected countries is essential for creating a more effective, principled humanitarian response, which is why it is also supported under the EU Aid Volunteers initiative. As of January 2021, the EU Aid Volunteers programme falls under the responsibility of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education, Audiovisual and Culture (DG EAC) and is managed by the European Commission Executive Agency for Education, Audiovisual and Culture.
Budget
![IAHV, Jordan Program At Syrian Refugee Camp](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/IAHV%2C_Jordan_Program_At_Syrian_Refugee_Camp.jpg)
Humanitarian needs kept increasing due to complex crises – often causing massive population displacement – as well as to disasters and epidemic outbreaks. Against this background, DG ECHO has remained a leading humanitarian donor, allocating EUR 2.4 billion to millions of crisis-affected people in more than 80 countries. To address the growing humanitarian funding gap, DG ECHO continued promoting the implementation of the Grand Bargain commitments, notably in relation to multi-sectoral joint needs assessment.
A significant proportion of the EU humanitarian aid was devoted to crisis-affected people inside Syria and its neighbouring countries, including the humanitarian component of the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey. The EU also focused on supporting populations in "forgotten crises”, such as in the Central African Republic, Sudan, Pakistan, Colombia, Venezuela, Haiti, and the Philippines.
DG ECHO played a leading role in the promotion of a principled humanitarian aid and respect of international humanitarian law. It did so through active advocacy for specific humanitarian crises, but also globally as chair of the Donor Support Group of the
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
(ICRC), and of the Good Humanitarian Donorship initiative (with
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
).
DG ECHO funds and uses for its evidence-based approach, the INFORM Risk index developed by the Joint Research Centre, and which is becoming the de-facto risk assessment methodology for many organisations such as the UN and INGO’s. The adopted budget for 2021 is set at €1 491 512 450 in commitments for humanitarian aid and €90 203 000 for civil protection.
Strategy
On 10 March 2021, the European Commission adopted the Communication “the EU’s humanitarian action: new challenges, same principles”. The communication sets out a number of key objectives and key actions to address growing humanitarian needs and support a better enabling environment for the delivery of principled humanitarian aid.
Every year, DG ECHO develops a set of priorities in order to co-ordinate its activities efficiently and in an impartial, needs-based approach. To ensure maximum transparency, the department's annual humanitarian priorities are available to the public. In order to establish consistency in the allocation of resources to different countries according to their respective needs, and to guarantee the credibility and transparency of humanitarian aid, the European Commission has developed a set of rigorous needs assessment tools.
Additionally, DG ECHO seeks further synergies with the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to engage with, and support, local and national government structures and response systems, including the use of specific tools such as the Civil Protection Prevention and Preparedness Missions.
Reform
The former
commissioner for aid,
Louis Michel
Louis Michel (born 2 September 1947) is a Belgian politician. He served in the government of Belgium as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2004 and was European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 2004 to 2009. From 20 ...
, had called for aid to be delivered more rapidly, to greater effect and on humanitarian principles.
The appointment of a new commissioner with a portfolio for International cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response corresponds to articles 214 and 196 of the Treaty of Lisbon where Humanitarian aid and Civil Protection play a sustainable role. ECHO's official name was changed to Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection. The transformation of ECHO and the movement of the Civil Protection unit from DG Environment to DG ECHO is a step forward for better cooperation and decision making in a field where rapid reaction is lifesaving.
Clare Short
Clare Short (born 15 February 1946) is a British politician who served as Minister of State for Development, Secretary of State for International Development under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2003.
Short was the Member of Parliament ...
, former British
International Development Secretary
The minister of state for development and Africa, formerly the minister of state for development and the secretary of state for international development, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom.
The off ...
said the European Commission ran ‘the worst development agency in the world’ and branded its operations ‘an outrage and a disgrace’. Since 2012, the Commission developed an action plan and guidelines on resilience and linking between relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD).
The Commission passed new legislation in 2013 on the EU Civil Protection Mechanism which provides better coordination and support to improve effectiveness of prevention, preparation, and response systems during disasters. The legislation establishes a voluntary pool of pre-committed response capacities and materials, a training network for first responders, and a new approach for disaster risk management from 31 participating states.
The EU Civil Protection Mechanism also established the opening of the new Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC), a civil protection 'hub' for monitoring disasters and enhancing preparedness and resilience of disaster-prone countries. The most recent uses of the Civil Protection mechanism occurred during flooding in
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
and
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
in 2014 and
evacuating EU nationals during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
In 2022, the
Scientific Advice Mechanism to the European Commission delivered a major piece of advice on improving strategic crisis management in the European Union. As well as summarising the historical and current provision within DG-ECHO and elsewhere, the advice recommends "that existing and future legislation and instruments should be integrated in a framework that is capable of dealing with increasingly systemic and large-scale crises in a structural way".
European Parliament Report
The Committee on Development (CD) of the EP commissioned the
Overseas Development Institute to undertake a project on the effectiveness of international development assistance from the European Commission in 2010.
[Alina Rocha Menocal (2010]
How effective is European Commission aid on the ground?
Overseas Development Institute The project focused on the cases of Cambodia, Mozambique and Peru. The findings and policy suggested can be summarized as follows:
[
# Harmonisation and alignment (H&A) is crucial for ]state capacity
State capacity is the ability of a government to accomplish policy goals, either generally or in reference to specific aims. A state that lacks capacity is defined as a fragile state or, in a more extreme case, a failed state. Higher state capacity ...
and should be expanded from sharing and spreading information to increasing joint activities in the short-term.
# Donor harmonisation efforts need to be scaled up to include agreements on joint technical assistance and the streamlining of systems and procedures
# Extremely fragmented aid systems impose unreasonably high transaction costs on the government, drains valuable resources, and fundamentally weakens state capacity.
# EC procedures and structures remain highly complicated and bureaucratic.
# Much of the success or failure of cooperation depends on individual interactions, specific innovators and appropriate staffing levels to carry out the tasks at hand, but the costs are also quite high.
# Country Strategy Papers could improve aid effectiveness — but their quality is uneven.
# Relations between HQ and delegations needs to be improved.
See also
* European Commissioner for Crisis Management
The European Commissioner for Crisis Management is a member of the European Commission. The portfolio was previously titled ''Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection''. The post is currently held by Janez Lenarčič.
The portfolio ...
* Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN)
* Emergency management
Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actuall ...
References
External links
ECHO Website
ec.europa.eu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Echo (European Commission)
ECHO
Humanitarian aid organizations in Europe
European Union foreign aid