30 Amendments of Michèle RIVASI related to 2021/2163(INI)
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 14 a (new)
Citation 14 a (new)
— having regard to the UNSC Resolution 2286 on the protection of medical missions,
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing fragilities and inequalities, amplified humanitarian needs – notably a sharp increase in hunger and lack of food supply, with almost 300 million people at risk of becoming acutely food insecure and over 40 million facing emergency levels of food insecurity – and hampered the humanitarian response owing to border closures and other restrictions such as those attempted by parties to armed conflicts;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas in 2018, approximately 108 million people required international humanitarian assistance as a result of storms, floods, droughts and wildfires, whereas by 2050, over 200 million people could need humanitarian assistance every year as a result of climate-related disasters and the socioeconomic impact of climate change;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas women and girls are the hardest hit by emergencies. whereas adolescent girls in conflict zones are 90% more likely to be out of school, 70 % of women in humanitarian settings are more likely to experience Gender-Based Violence and as women represent more than 70% of people facing chronic hunger;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the EU Humanitarian Air Bridge, which was set up in response to the transport constraints caused by the pandemic, has greatly helped to plug critical gaps in the humanitarian response by facilitating the transport of aid, emergency assistance and humanitarian staff;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas this funding gap makes it imperative to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the humanitarian system and to ensure that more countries contribute to the humanitarian effort so that aid meets the needs of the populations affected, as highlighted most recently by Grand Bargain 2.0, which focuses on localisation and quality financing as key enabling priorities;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas the Commission proposes to launch a pilot project on blending to significantly increase the resource base for humanitarian action and thus calls for further involvement of the private sector;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H b (new)
Recital H b (new)
Hb. whereas consortium organisation is encouraged by donors in development cooperation and humanitarian aid; whereas, compared to other modalities, it is characterised by an often larger scale of objectives and means made available;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas addressing humanitarian crises requires not only more funding but also decisive political efforts to reduce needs by preventing and ending conflicts, countering climate change protecting basic human rights, promoting sustainable development and reducing risks and vulnerabilities;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas attacks against humanitarian personnel have dramatically increased in recent years;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the Commission communication on the EU’s humanitarian action: new challenges, same principles and its concrete proposals to improve the provision of humanitarian aid, and calls for the swift implementation of these proposals in close consultation and cooperation with humanitarian partners – especially NGOs and frontline responders; reiterates that in accordance with the European Consensus, the EU’s humanitarian aid must always be provided solely on the basis of need, must be fully in line with the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence, and must pay particular attention to vulnerable groups;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls for the EU to provide a robust annual budget for EU humanitarian aid to guarantee timely, predictable and flexible funding for humanitarian aid from the start of each financial year and to keep a ring-fenced envelope within the Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve (SEAR) for humanitarian crises outside the Union and maintaining the existing capacity to rapidly mobilise additional funds in the case of emerging, escalating or sudden onset emergencies;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Calls for an expansion of the circle of donor countries which contribute to humanitarian aid on a voluntary basis, to include the 100 countries that the World Bank identifies as high-income and richest countries in the world amounting to a gross national income (GNI) of $80 trillion in 2018; underlines that a contribution of these countries counting for 0.03% of their GNI should be compulsory and would allow to raise the $30 billion needed to address international humanitarian crises; stresses that the involvement of new countries would not only solve the question of the volume of aid, but contribute to depoliticising humanitarian aid and making it less exposed to divisions between major state powers as was the case over funding for the WHO during the Covid-19 crisis;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Calls on modalities for the distribution of the financial envelope for humanitarian aid to be entrusted to an independent body that is non-aligned in conflicts, in particular with regard to the members of the UN Security Council, and composed of representatives of the United Nations, the ICRC and international NGOs;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Is alarmed at the growing number of serious violations of international humanitarian law and calls for the establishment of an EU coordination mechanism in order to develop an EU coherent approach towards international humanitarian law, as well as monitor violations and advocate for ensuring that international humanitarian law is respected, including by using the relevant political, development aid, trade and economic levers in the EU’s external action;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Is concerned about the risk of instrumentalisation of humanitarian aid via the EU humanitarian-development- peace nexus approach which may imply that the promotion of humanitarian principles and International Humanitarian Law will not necessarily prevail for humanitarian action but be side-lined by joint-up and coherent action between the 3 axes of the nexus in line with policy objectives set by the EU agenda; in this regard, stresses in particular that humanitarian action must urgently be dissociated from the security or stability agendas;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to closely monitor, notably through existing mechanisms such as the International Humanitarian Fact Finding Commission, and include international humanitarian law violations as a criterion for listing individuals or entities in the relevant EU sanctions regimes; notes that sanctions and restrictive measures must comply with international humanitarian law and must not hinder the provision of humanitarian assistance; underlines the need to consistently include humanitarian excemptions in regimes of restrictive measures and to provide the necessary support and guidance to partners to apply these excemptions effectively; recalls that protracted crises are still humanitarian contexts, and that a substantial part of ‘nexus funding’ is channelled through development envelopes which cannot provide the same flexibility as humanitarian support in the allocation of funding; calls on the EU and its Member States to envisage concrete solutions for effective allocation of funding for partners operating in these contexts;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Given widespread violations of the right to food during conflicts, the recurring use of starvation as a method of warfare, and denial of humanitarian access, calls on the European Commission and the Member States to strengthen international humanitarian law and vigorously prosecute and sanction those who use starvation as a weapon of war;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for the EU and its Member States to swiftly fulfil the commitments made at the World Humanitarian Summit and as part of the Grand Bargain; highlights the importance of making humanitarian aid more efficient and effective by increasing multiannual and multi-country fundingflexible funding through unearmarked, softly earmarked, and multi-year funding, and by enhancing harmonisation and simplification of donor proposal and reporting requirements, reducing the administrative burden for humanitarian partners and promoting innovative solutions, among other endeavours;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Given the concerns over development additionally of blending- guarantee mechanisms as assessed by the European Court of Auditors in the case of EFSD, calls on the Commission and financial institutions, including the EIB, to ensure that all humanitarian operations undertaken through blending are compliant with the external action goals of the EU as defined in Article 21 TEU, including respect and promotion of human rights, eradication of poverty, and the management of environmental risks; calls on the Commission to provide the European Parliament with more information as well as a written assessment on the implementation of the pilot project for blending for humanitarian action, assessing the alignment with external action objectives;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Insists on the importance to preserve expertise and non interference into the neutrality principle of humanitarian actors; stresses that further engagement with the private sector requires: prior analysis of results achieved so far through this collaboration, and to promote exclusively partnerships which comply with international humanitarian principles, environment, social and human rights standards, and accountability to affected populations;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Stresses that encouraging consortia is a concern for smaller NGOs which so far are left behind in a process which fits more the capacities of larger organisations; encourages the Commission to report on the advantages and risks of this mode of collaboration on partner country structures, local organisations and small-scale projects, but also for the donor organisations;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses the particular importance of supporting local actors and urges the Commission to develop a localisation policy outlining how to provide more and better support for local respondents to enable them to make use of all the instruments available; calls on further development of a solid localisation policy, relying further on DG ECHO’s partners’ expertise and experience in strengthening local actors’ capacities as concrete elements for the EU to further implement its Grand Bargain commitments linked to localisation; calls on the Commission to ensure that women’s equal participation and empowerment is integrated explicitly into any new mechanisms to strengthen the role of local actors in humanitarian action;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Stresses that in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, localisation allows a health response adapted to the context of developing countries in order to avoid, European biases, particularly with regard to containment protocols and prevention campaigns; calls on the prevalence of an eurocentric perspective over emergency situations to be adequately challenged through further localisation of humanitarian action;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. NotStresses the challenges posed by climate change and welcomes the commitments to further mainstream climate change impacts and environmental factors into humanitarian action and build resilience of vulnerable communities over climate change; insists on the importance of involving indigenous people and local communities in this process; welcomes also the commitments to strengthen the climate resilience of vulnerable regions through disaster preparedness and anticipatory action via a nexus approach; welcomes, in addition, the commitments to green the EU’s humanitarian aid and track climate- related spending; calls on the Commission to provide the necessary resources for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction through the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe, among other tools, and to accelerate the implementation of the Sendai commitments in the EU’s external action;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Regrets that the Communication of the Commission on humanitarian action presents the issue of gender equality as a tried and tested principle of humanitarian aid but not as a growing need to address; given the prominent role of women as victims of conflicts and disasters, calls on to assess on past experiences in humanitarian support in this field as well as to more concrete elements of gender mainstreaming in future humanitarian action, including specific expenditure, programmes, tracking and assessment methods oriented towards gender related activities;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes the concrete achievements of the EU Humanitarian Air Bridge and the idea of creating a European Humanitarian Response Capacity to plug the gaps in the EU’s humanitarian response; calls for the Member States and humanitarian partners to be consulted on any new Commission initiatives, which should build on – not duplicate – existing EU mechanisms such as the civil protection mechanism; stresses the importance to maintain a clear separation between the civil protection and humanitarian response in humanitarian contexts; is concerned with any considerations about combining the civil protection and humanitarian responses or using the same funding instruments for civil protection and humanitarian response as it mixes the mandates and presents an increased risk for principled humanitarian action;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls for a more dedicated focus on health, access to public health services and efforts to reduce mortality and morbidity, as well as the need to strengthen epidemics/pandemic preparedness;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Requires significant emphasis to be devoted to nutrition, as fundamental right for all, in order to ensure food security and allow greater resilience of food systems to economic, climatic and human shocks; calls on the EU to revise the EU Action Plan on Nutrition, to address all forms of malnutrition in humanitarian and development contexts, in line with the Council Conclusion of November 2018;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Welcomes the announcement on the first ever EU Humanitarian Forum, which is to be held in January 2022; stresses that the forum should be inclusive of humanitarian implementing partners and seek to increase the visibility of the EU’s humanitarian aid and the work of its partners in particular local ones, promote a strategic dialogue on the EU’s humanitarian policy, raising political support and awareness about the nature of principled and needs-based EU humanitarian assistance and advance the implementation of the key actions set out in the Commission communication;