1. Encourages the global community convening in the World Humanitarian Summit to adopt a rights-based approach to humanitarian action, with the objective of finding better and more inclusive ways to protect civilians with special regard to vulnerable groups such as women, children, and religious or ethnic minorities, to identify threats and vulnerabilities, and to monitor violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, thus helping strengthen the fight against impunity; expresses its conviction that upholding the universality of human rights and reinforcing shared understanding by all actors involved in humanitarian actio ...[+++]n also strengthens the core humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and operational independence; stresses the need to put protection at the centre of humanitarian action and deplores any misuse or disrespect of the core humanitarian principles for political, military or non-humanitarian purposes; warns that such misuse undermines and endangers genuine humanitarian operations and their staff; insists that counter-terrorism measures should not undermine nor obstruct humanitarian actions;

EUROPA - EU law and publications - EUR-Lex - EUR-Lex - 0401_2 - EN // World Humanitarian Summit: strengthening humanitarian action

20. Stresses the need for the EU, along with the Ukrainian authorities, to devote further attention to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and in Crimea and to address the catastrophic humanitarian situation, in particular the situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs); calls on the Commission and on the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management to prepare a robust, direct and long overdue humanitarian action, omitting intermediary organisations, in the form of ‘Blue Convoy’ type humanitarian action clearly marked as coming from the EU; calls on the Commission to present such a plan of action to the Parliament within ...[+++] the next two months; stresses the need for further financial assistance for Ukraine from the EU and its Member States to help it cope with the dire humanitarian crisis; echoes the alerts issued by the WHO to the effect that eastern Ukraine is facing a health emergency, with hospitals not fully functioning and a shortage of medicines and vaccines, and calls for increased and more effective humanitarian assistance to IDPs, with regard in particular to children and the elderly, and for full and unhindered access for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to the conflict areas; welcomes the enactment of the long-awaited IDP law, as well as the decision to deploy EU experts through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to advise the Ukrainian authorities on IDP issues;

21. Stresses the need for the EU, along with the Ukrainian authorities, to devote further attention to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and in Crimea and to address the catastrophic humanitarian situation, in particular the situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs); calls on the Commission and on the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management to prepare a robust, direct and long overdue humanitarian action, omitting intermediary organisations, in the form of ‘Blue Convoy’ type humanitarian action clearly marked as coming from the EU; calls on the Commission to present such a plan of action to the Parliament within ...[+++] the next two months; stresses the need for further financial assistance for Ukraine from the EU and its Member States to help it cope with the dire humanitarian crisis; echoes the alerts issued by the WHO to the effect that eastern Ukraine is facing a health emergency, with hospitals not fully functioning and a shortage of medicines and vaccines, and calls for increased and more effective humanitarian assistance to IDPs, with regard in particular to children and the elderly, and for full and unhindered access for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to the conflict areas; welcomes the enactment of the long-awaited IDP law, as well as the decision to deploy EU experts through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to advise the Ukrainian authorities on IDP issues;

6. Reminds that both Article 214 TFEU and the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid of 2008 protect principled humanitarian action; calls for the safeguarding of the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence which are crucial for both the effectiveness of humanitarian action and the safety of its actors; stresses firmly that counter-terrorism and security agendas must not undermine the ability of humanitarian actors to deliver assistance, and that humanitarian aid should under no circumstances serve political ends or be considered a crisis management tool; points out that to obtain access to popul ...[+++]ations in need humanitarian aid must not only be neutral but also be perceived as such; while acknowledging that a needs-based humanitarian delivery should be kept separate, calls for wider engagement with the humanitarian actors in order to define better the parameters of their relationship with the comprehensive approach;

24. Points out that both Article 214 TFEU and the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid of 2008 protect principled humanitarian action; calls for the safeguarding of the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence which are crucial for both the effectiveness of humanitarian action and the safety of its actors; stresses firmly that counter-terrorism and security agendas must not undermine the ability of humanitarian actors to deliver assistance, and that humanitarian aid should under no circumstances serve political ends or be considered a crisis management tool; points out that to obtain access to p ...[+++]opulations in need humanitarian aid must not only be neutral but also be perceived as such; while acknowledging that a needs-based humanitarian delivery should be given some freedom of manoeuvre, calls for wider engagement with humanitarian actors in order to define better the parameters of their relationship with the comprehensive approach;