Humanitarian Action
In 2024, the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs allocated a total budget of €96 million to humanitarian interventions.
The year was shaped by three high-intensity conflicts and millions of people in need of humanitarian assistance. The wars in the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine were characterised by a total disregard for international humanitarian law and the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian workers’ efforts to save lives – often in vain. Population displacement reached record levels once again. As in previous years, the most vulnerable have been left behind: about one in five children worldwide – an estimated 400 million – live in conflict zones or have been forcibly displaced. And women and girls have been particularly impacted, due to inadequate health care and an epidemic of gender-based violence.
As of 25 November 2024, global financial requirements for the year had soared to US$49.6 billion, up from US$46.4 billion at the start of the year, targeting aid for nearly 198 million people across 77 countries. Yet, despite massive efforts by humanitarian organisations to meet the objectives set out in the response plans and their appeals, funding in 2024 did not match the scale of needs. Only US$21 billion, which is 43% of the amount required to meet the needs reported in the Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO), had been received as of 25 November.
International crises
Luxembourg has maintained its commitment to major humanitarian crises around the world. Thus, in 2024 Luxembourg made a total contribution of nearly €15.3 million to the humanitarian response in the Sahel, spanning Niger (€7.1 million), Burkina Faso (€3.2 million), Mali (€4.1 million) and Chad (€0.9 million).
With total contributions of €5.3 million, €4 million and €3.4 million respectively, three other priorities for Luxembourg’s humanitarian action in 2024 were the humanitarian responses in Ukraine, Syria and Ethiopia. Other humanitarian contributions in 2024 were for the humanitarian crises in Sudan (€2.4 million), South Sudan (€1.78 million), Afghanistan (€1.45 million), Yemen (€1.4 million), the Central African Republic (€1.53 million) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (€1.3 million). Luxembourg also responded to sudden-onset crises such as floods in Laos and Vietnam (Typhoon Yagi), Mali, Brazil and Japan, mpox epidemics in the DRC and the Marburg virus in Rwanda. At the end of the year, Luxembourg mobilised another €4 million to address the devastating humanitarian consequences of the war in Lebanon.
Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT)
In 2024, Luxembourg allocated a total of €6.7 million for humanitarian protection and emergency humanitarian aid projects in the OPT, including €1.4 million in support of the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip. Aid delivery to the OPT was carried out through United Nations agencies such as UNRWA, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the NGOs Handicap International Luxembourg, SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde, CARE Luxembourg, Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient, Action Solidarité Tiers Monde and the HALO Trust.
In 2024 Luxembourg continued its support for the West Bank Protection Consortium project managed by the Norwegian Refugee Council, an NGO, and forged new partnerships, including with the UN’s 2720 Gaza mechanism to support the Jordanian humanitarian corridor and with UNOSAT to assess the impact of the conflict on buildings in the Gaza Strip.
Chairmanship of the OCHA Donor Support Group (ODSG)
From July 2023 to June 2024, Luxembourg served as chair of the OCHA Donor Support Group (ODSG). During this period, Luxembourg organised four official meetings, including two high-level meetings, the most recent one taking place in Luxembourg, as well as a field visit to the CAR. Luxembourg’s chairmanship of the ODSG came at the middle of the implementation of OCHA’s 2023 – 2026 strategic plan, which focuses on a humanitarian system that is more people-centred and less bureaucratic, seeking to further strengthen the resilience of affected communities. Within that framework, as chair Luxembourg focused on initiatives to reform OCHA, such as the reform of the humanitarian programme cycle (HPC) and the Flagship initiative, both aimed at improving the effectiveness of the humanitarian system in terms of resources and aligning it more closely with the actual needs and priorities of the people concerned. In March 2024, Luxembourg also hosted the Flagship initiative’s first global learning forum, welcoming around 100 participants including local stakeholders, humanitarian coordinators and OCHA heads of offices from the four pilot countries (Niger, South Sudan, Colombia and the Philippines), as well as donors, UN agencies, NGOs and academic institutions. In addition, as chair Luxembourg placed particular emphasis on responding to the humanitarian consequences of climate change and internal displacement, as well as managing risk in fragile settings, while addressing the issue of misappropriation of aid. The high-level meeting in Luxembourg also explored the humanitarian system’s collaboration with development partners and international financial institutions.
Overall, Luxembourg’s chairmanship gave the country strong visibility, deepening its ties with OCHA’s senior leadership and other donor countries. It also helped to reaffirm the role and added value of the ODSG, which had lost momentum under the previous chairmanship of Saudi Arabia and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A testament to the success of this chairmanship is the interest shown by several donors – including DG ECHO, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands – in serving as the next chair.
Launch of two strategic partnerships on artificial intelligence
In an increasingly complex global context where supporting innovation in humanitarian action – particularly innovation driven by affected populations, including refugees and internally displaced persons – has become an imperative, Luxembourg has decided to establish a partnership with the UNHCR Innovation Service and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST). This partnership seeks to develop an effective early warning and early response system (EWERS) for forced displacement, by leveraging digital technologies. The goal of this initiative is to create a system that can detect escalating emergency risks likely to lead to forced displacement, through early warning indicators, able to deliver alerts before crises erupt, together with real-time updates. This project also aims to second or place part of the project team at LIST in Luxembourg.
As innovative ideas implemented responsibly in the fields of technology, digitalisation and finance remain a priority for Luxembourg’s humanitarian action strategy, Luxembourg has supported a second initiative in the field of innovation. A strategic partnership has been established with the WFP, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and LIST. This ambitious partnership aims to harness technological advances, especially in artificial intelligence (AI), to address the challenges of food insecurity and acute hunger, while improving the effectiveness and impact of humanitarian operations.
UNOSAT
Luxembourg has decided to allocate €500,000 to UNOSAT to finance a range of activities in 2025. The agency focuses on using space technologies and geospatial data and responding to the identification of emergency needs on behalf of humanitarian and UN organisations such as OCHA, UNESCO, etc., as well as for UN Member States. This funding will support UNOSAT’s emergency mapping service in three areas: (i) assessing damage to buildings in Lebanon caused by conflict; (ii) evaluating the impact of the conflict on buildings in the Gaza Strip; and (iii) assessing how conflicts have affected cultural and natural heritage.
Letter of intent with the WFP on cybersecurity
During a visit by representatives of the WFP’s Technology Division in January 2024, Luxembourg and the UN agency explored opportunities for future collaboration in cybersecurity and data management. While a firm decision by the WFP on such a commitment had been awaited for several years, the beginning of 2024 saw renewed interest in the dialogue. The recent launch of the new WFP global data strategy for 2024 – 2026 created a timely opportunity to bring these discussions to fruition. The collaboration prospects were formalised through a non-binding letter of intent, with the aim of accelerating WFP’s decision-making process and strengthening its bilateral relationship with Luxembourg — an approach that proved successful.
The year 2025 will thus mark the launch of a pilot phase of a strategic partnership on cybersecurity and data management. This may eventually pave the way for the WFP to have a physical presence in Luxembourg.
Luxembourg and international NGOs
In 2024, Luxembourg allocated a total of €15 million to Luxembourg and international NGOs active in the humanitarian field, compared to €20.8 million disbursed in 2023. This reduction is mainly due to the cessation of the activities of Fondation Caritas Luxembourg, following the embezzlement of funds from the Foundation (see box). In addition, due to the unstable situation in Niger, the Ministry, in agreement with Luxembourg Red Cross International Aid, decided to defer two annual instalments, totalling €2 million, to 2025. In terms of budget allocations specifically for international NGOs and organisations, the 2024 figure stood at approximately €5.4 million, down from about €6.1 million in 2023.
Luxembourg has also decided to continue its partnership with the Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue – a partnership dating back to 2023 – by concluding a multiannual MoU covering the 2025 – 2026 period. Luxembourg will strengthen its partnership by increasing its contribution to a total of €4 million for 2025 – 2026 to support the following three activities: (i) core funding; (ii) local mediation in the Sahel and Gulf of Guinea; and (iii) dialogue for digital peace aimed at mitigating digital conflicts through mediation.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
The partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued in 2024, particularly with the ICRC Delegation for Cyberspace in Luxembourg, which was inaugurated at the end of 2022. In 2024, significant efforts were made to transform the ICRC’s Delegation for Cyberspace in Luxembourg into a Global Cyber Operational Hub. These efforts will continue in 2025.
2024 also saw two major events: the Symposium on Cybersecurity on Data Protection in Humanitarian Action, held in Luxembourg at the end of January, and the Regional Symposium on Cybersecurity and Data Protection in Humanitarian Action, held in Nairobi at the end of November. Preparations will soon begin for the next symposium on data protection and cybersecurity in humanitarian action. This event is scheduled to take place in Luxembourg during the first half of 2026.
Talks will also begin in 2025 on the establishment of the new strategic partnership framework between Luxembourg and the ICRC covering the 2026 – 2029 period.
emergency.lu
Emergency.lu is the operational arm of Luxembourg’s humanitarian action.
Through its satellite communication platform, Luxembourg continued to provide telecommunication services in support of humanitarian organisations in Niger, Chad, Venezuela, Panama and Syria, at the request of the WFP, the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and UNICEF.
As part of the ETC, Luxembourg also contributed to the Services for communities Sahel project, which aims to bridge the digital divide in the central Sahel and meet the information and communication needs of communities. By providing basic telecommunication services, the ETC will ensure that communities in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali have access to the tools needed to access potentially life-saving information, and to a basic communication network. The first site has been operational in Diffa since mid-2023. A second centre opened in August 2024 in Dori, Burkina Faso.
The crisis in Sudan and the conflict in Darfur have resulted in the looting and destruction of a large number of UN offices, guesthouses and warehouses across the region, as well as the evacuation of international staff and the relocation of national staff. In response, the UN launched activities in Farchana, Chad, one hour from the border. At the request of OCHA and as part of the International Humanitarian Partnership, one Ministry official and four volunteers from the
CGDIS Humanitarian Intervention Team (HIT) installed prefabricated containers, two generators and a satellite communication terminal to support humanitarian operators in the region.
Following the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl, which struck the Caribbean in early July, Luxembourg responded positively to a request from OCHA for international assistance to support affected populations in Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The Luxembourg government sent a HIT member to assist in the relief efforts, as part of OCHA’s United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team. Two additional HIT members were deployed to the affected areas to support the UNDAC team with logistical and technical resources, including the emergency.lu satellite communications platform. In response to the damage caused by Cyclone Chido, which struck Mayotte on 14 December 2024, and in response to a request from the French government via the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, Luxembourg deployed two emergency.lu satellite communications systems to support humanitarian efforts in the archipelago.
In response to the declaration of the Marburg virus disease (MVD) outbreak in Rwanda in September 2024, and at the request of the Rwandan government under the European Civil Protection Mechanism, Luxembourg provided 330 pallets of personal protective equipment and medical supplies to Rwanda. These emergency items, provided by the Ministry of Health and Social Security, were collected and transported under the coordination of the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, in close cooperation with the Grand Ducal Fire and Rescue Corps (CGDIS), private sector partners and the Luxembourg embassy in Rwanda. Using the same mechanism, Luxembourg also provided medical equipment to the Lebanese authorities.
In December 2024, Luxembourg delivered 110 humanitarian demining kits worth €1 million to Ukraine. This donation forms part of Luxembourg’s broader support for humanitarian demining in Ukraine, currently the most heavily mined country in the world.
In line with the 2023 – 2028 coalition agreement and in order to strengthen Luxembourg’s direct emergency response capacities, in 2024 the Ministry established a humanitarian stockpile. This stockpile is intended to support humanitarian agencies (enabling response) and to provide direct assistance to communities affected by disasters and humanitarian crises (lifesaving support).
As part of its capacity-building efforts, the Ministry hosted 200 participants from 25 different humanitarian organisations for eight training courses held in the Grand Duchy in 2024. The organisation and financing of these courses is a benefit in kind provided by Luxembourg to the ETC, the WFP, UNHCR and OCHA.