Human rights

Luxembourg Development Cooperation aims primarily to strengthen the respect for and protection and realisation of human rights in order to create an environment that offers equal opportunities, so that each individual can freely determine the course of his or her existence.

Within the United Nations, Luxembourg’s action is undertaken with the aim of achieving the Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals. As part of its mandate at the Human Rights Council 2022-2024, Luxembourg is committed to a human rights-based approach to international development.

In terms of its partner countries, the Luxembourg Development Cooperation’s actions form part of a human rights-based approach, in the sense that an improvement in governance seeks to strengthen the institutions of the State in fulfilling their roles as bodies bound by obligations. Appropriate legal and administrative frameworks and institutions are necessary in order to address the needs and rights of people. Support must also be given to rights holders so that they are in a better position to claim and exercise their fundamental rights, which comprise civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.

Luxembourg seeks to maintain a regular political dialogue at ministerial level with its partner countries. The Indicative Cooperation Programmes include the field of human rights in a cross-cutting manner, and are the subject of an annual review as part of the partnership committee meetings that take place alternately in Luxembourg and in the relevant partner country.

Through its humanitarian strategy Luxembourg remains committed to promoting respect for international humanitarian law, and ensuring respect for human rights, as well as supporting efforts to build a lasting peace, notably through transitional justice activities.

International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)

In 2024, the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) programmes in Tunisia, Colombia and East Africa continued, with the support of Luxembourg Development Cooperation (€1.95 million for the 2023-2026 period). The ICTJ works for the acknowledgement of human rights violations and the restoration of dignity, which lays the foundations for peace in the long term and helps prevent the recurrence of renewed cycles of conflict, abuse and marginalisation. Luxembourg Development Cooperation is also supporting the ICTJ to provide its comparative experience and knowledge to discussions on transitional justice in Ukraine. Drawing on lessons learned from various transitional justice contexts, the ICTJ advocates for victim-centred justice measures and a broader understanding of accountability, going beyond criminal justice.

Luxembourg Development Cooperation also supports the ICTJ in its research activities. The ICTJ continued a study launched in 2023 on the implications of digital transformation for transitional justice, focusing in particular on the specific impact of social media in shaping shared narratives, countering disinformation and highlighting the social value of truth. In September 2024, the ICTJ published a study examining the role of mental health and psychosocial support in transitional justice policies, with case studies from Colombia, Canada, Australia and Sierra Leone. The study explores how a psychosocial approach can be integrated into formal transitional justice processes, including restorative justice, truth-seeking initiatives and judicial mechanisms that seek to establish criminal accountability.

International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

Luxembourg contributes to the implementation of the ISHR’s regional programme in Africa. Backed by a €300,000 contribution from Luxembourg over a three-year period (2023-2025), the activities help strengthen partnerships with various local actors in African countries where Luxembourg Development Cooperation is active. The aim is to consolidate laws and systems that protect the freedom of expression, association and assembly of human rights defenders (HRDs), including through NGO engagement with the African Union’s African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The ISHR places particular emphasis on building the capacity of national organisations, enabling them to raise their demands with their own governments and press for legal frameworks that protect HRDs.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

In 2024, Luxembourg Development Cooperation reinforced its support for the regional office of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) through the signing of the first strategic partnership framework in July 2024, which provides for a budget of €6,000,000 over four years. For Luxembourg, such a framework makes it possible to adopt a strategic approach to human rights and to make coherent progress on human rights commitments.

In line with its primary development cooperation objective of contributing to the reduction and, ultimately, the eradication of extreme poverty, Luxembourg has chosen to continue its support to the OHCHR, and to do so in developing countries as a priority. Accordingly, the partnership framework envisages financial support for country programmes in Myanmar and Rwanda, as well as to the country and regional offices for East Africa (based in Addis Ababa and covering Ethiopia, Djibouti, Tanzania and the African Union), the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), West Africa (based in Dakar and covering Senegal, Benin, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia and Togo) and Central America and the Dominican Republic (based in Panama and covering Belize, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Panama). In view of the significant needs of the OHCHR, Luxembourg allocated an additional €500,000 at the end of 2024, specifically to support the OHCHR office in the OPT.

Front Line Defenders

In 2024, Luxembourg continued its support for the NGO Front Line Defenders (FLD), world leader in the protection and security of HRDs. In the region of Central America FLD is leading a three-year project (2022-2025) with a budget of €300,000, designed to provide holistic protection and support for the safety of HRDs in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Luxembourg also supported a project by FLD in Afghanistan, covering the 2023-2024 period, which provided direct assistance to the most marginalised HRDs. Lastly, Luxembourg supports FLD through a regional approach in Africa for the 2023-2026 period, focusing on the countries where Luxembourg Development Cooperation is active, namely Senegal, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin and Rwanda. In 2024, the geographical scope of the project was expanded to include Côte d’Ivoire. Support from Luxembourg Development Cooperation also enabled FLD to finance the participation of HRDs from the region in the 2024 Dublin Platform for Human Rights Defenders. Overall, the situation of HRDs in western and central Africa is deteriorating. Often, national security is advanced as a reason for restrictions on civic space, such as the freedoms of association and expression, endangering the activities and often even the personal freedom of HRDs.

UNESCO

Since 2019, Luxembourg has contributed €100,000 per year to support the International Programme for the Development of Communication, managed by UNESCO, which helps to mobilise the international community around discussion of progress with the media in developing countries.

International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA)

Despite the difficult context for work on the ground since the coup d’état in 2021, Luxembourg Development Cooperation remains present in Myanmar. Thus, Luxembourg is also positioning itself as a key partner in the Building Federal Democracy in Myanmar programme (€800,000 for 2023-2024), which seeks to establish a new constitutional framework in Myanmar, by establishing effective and accountable institutions and by promoting inclusive and participatory governance at all levels. Luxembourg held the annual Presidency of International IDEA’s Council of Member States from December 2023 to December 2024.

Mekong Region land governance

Since 2014, Luxembourg Development Cooperation has been contributing, alongside Switzerland and Germany, to the Mekong Region Land Governance Project (MRLG). The MRLG project is being implemented in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam by a consortium of two international NGOs, Land Equity International and GRET. The project contributes to improved policies and practices, as well as their practical implementation, enabling small-scale farmers, especially those from ethnic minorities, to have sustainable and equitable access to land and control over their agricultural and forest lands. The continuation of Luxembourg’s support for this project (€1.4 million for 2023-2025) reflects the need to address the links between climate and human rights. Protecting and respecting the collective rights of indigenous peoples is particularly important for biodiversity and forest conservation.

Entrepreneurship and human rights

Within the framework of the private sector engagement instruments, Luxembourg Development Cooperation is committed to promoting responsible business conduct, based on the OECD and United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Due diligence plays a central role within the Business Partnership Facility, the LuxAid Challenge Fund and the LuxAid Demonstration Fund, which are among the instruments for partnering with the private sector. As such, funding for European businesses and businesses in developing countries is conditional on concrete commitments to socially and environmentally responsible business conduct. The Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs has actively participated in the work of the Enterprises and Human Rights working group, responsible for implementing and monitoring the second national Business and Human Rights action plan. Since September 2023, LuxDev has been a signatory of the National Business and Human Rights Pact, demonstrating the agency’s concrete commitment to identifying risks and preventing human rights violations. In addition, Luxembourg signed the Joint Declaration on Living Income and Living Wages on 1 June 2023 together with the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. The declaration puts forward tangible actions to support the implementation of decent wages and incomes in global supply chains.