Humanitarian Aid As An Integral Part Of The European Unions External Action

The article focuses on the European Union's (EU) humanitarian aid policy. It addresses the challenge for the EU to deliver independent humanitarian aid while simultaneously seeking to establish more coherence between its external policies. The article examines how the EU tries to reconcile these potentially conflicting policy goals, both de jure and in practice. Empirically, it explores the interaction between EU humanitarian aid and development cooperation, the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and trade policy. While the independence of the humanitarian aid delivery is, for the most part, not being undermined, it remains difficult to establish positive synergies with other external policies because of institutional hurdles and legal constraints, as well as political obstacles and operational incompatibilities.

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyse the independence, neutrality and impartiality of the EU humanitarian assistance and to which extent is influenced by the EU's political, economic and military goals. The paper focuses on the legislative framework and the interactions between the main actors of EU humanitarian aid and external action, questioning the politicization of EU humanitarian aid. The paper provides a detailed analysis of the structure and organization of the Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations and its relations to the Member States, different EU bodies and humanitarian partners, primarily NGOs and UN bodies. The last part of the paper addresses the Comprehensive Approach and how it affects humanitarian aid

Essay from the year 2005 in the subject Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: 1,3, University of Edinburgh, course: The European Union in International Affairs, language: English, abstract: The EU plays a multiplicity of roles in a range of policy areas in the international system1 and the global context is increasingly seen as the stage on which the Union must act.2 However, the EU is not a traditional global actor -it has a rather distinctive and unique international identity due to its institutional structure and decision- making procedures. Several theories have attempted to grasp this unique identity and are concerned with the question of how significant a global actor the Union is. The following paper assesses the utility of two specific theories- “actorness” and “presence”- for conceptualising the role of the EU in one particular foreign policy-area- humanitarian assistance affairs.3 Section one examines how the concept of “actorness” can be applied to the policy-area of humanitarian assistance and evaluates the result of this analysis. The same method is used in section two that discusses the concept of “presence”. The essay concludes by comparing and reflecting on the overall utility of the two concepts. 1 Bretherton and Vogler, 1999: 15. These EU-foreign policy areas mainly include trade relations, security and defence issues, development affairs, environmental issues and humanitarian assistance. The role of the EU varies from area to area. 2 Cremona, 2004: 553. 3 Humanitarian assistance affairs fall under the portfolio of the Development-Commissioner. However, it has to be emphasized at this point that this essay exclusively deals with humanitarian assistance. On development affairs for example see Holland (2004), Santiso (2002), Brenton (2003), Grilli (1993), Babarinde/Faber (2004) and Pernice/Thym (2002).

The European Union and Humanitarian Crises: Patterns of Intervention addresses the allocation of foreign aid within the framework of the European Union’s Humanitarian Aid policy and analyses different Member States’ intervention strategies designed to cope with these emergencies. Joining the debate about bilateral and multilateral allocation of foreign aid in crisis situations and exploring the cooperative actions undertaken by the European Union and its Member States to cope with them the book questions how the context of the crises themselves impacts on strategies of intervention and investigates how strategies change depending on the characteristics of the crisis.

The third edition of this book incorporates more than 10 years of fascinating dynamics since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. Apart from analysing the general basis of the Union's external action and its relationship to international law, the book explores the law and practice of the EU in more specialized fields of external action, such as common commercial policy, neighbourhood policy, development cooperation, cooperation with third countries, humanitarian aid, external environmental policy, and common foreign and security policy, as well as EU sanctions. Five years after the second edition published, this fully updated edition contains major developments within the law itself, along with changes and restructuring of the themes within the book. Carefully selected primary documents are accompanied with analytic commentary on the issues they raise and their significance for the overall structure of EU external relations law. The primary materials selected include many important legal documents that are hard to find elsewhere but give a vital insight into the operation of EU external relations law in practice.

The two years since publication of the first edition of The Law of EU External Relations: Cases, Materials, and Commentary on the EU as an International Actor have been characterized by the large amount of case law on the new provisions on external relations, which have found their way into the Lisbon Treaty. Moreover, there have been important changes in EU secondary law on external relations as a consequence of these changes to the Lisbon Treaty. In this second edition, new case law and legislative developments are critically discussed and analysed in this comprehensive collection of EU Treaty law. Combining chapters on the general basis of the Union's external action and its relation to international law, with chapters which further explore the law and practice of the EU in the specialized fields of external action, this book presents the law of EU external relations in a concise and accessible manner for students, practitioners, and academics in the field. Topics include the common commercial policy, development cooperation, cooperation with third countries, humanitarian aid, the enlargement and neighbourhood policies, the external environmental policy, and the common foreign and security policy. Carefully selected primary documents are accompanied with analytic commentary on the issues they raise and their significance for the overall structure of EU external relations law. The primary materials selected include many important legal documents that are hard to find elsewhere but give a vital insight into the operation of EU external relations law in practice.

Master's Thesis from the year 2020 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict Studies, Security, grade: 80, University of Marburg (Center for Conflict Studies), language: English, abstract: Foreign aid and military interventions have been important determinants in Mali’s domestic politics for decades. Focusing on the European Union (EU) as an external actor in Mali, this study investigates the relationship between the EU’s political discourse and aid policy in this country. I looked at the amount of European humanitarian and military aid sent to Mali between 2010 and 2014. I also looked at the framings of Mali in the European Parliament’s (EP) debates within the same time frame. In this way, this study investigates whether there is a connection between the framings of Mali in the EP debates and the types and amount of European aid sent to Mali. Frame analysis is used as a method to examine the speeches in the EP debates. The changes in aid and the analysis of the speeches show us a connection between the framings of Mali in the EP and the EU’s aid policy in Mali.

A state-of-the-art consideration of the European Union's crisis response mechanisms based on comparative fieldwork in a number of cases.

International humanitarian law (IHL) is a set of rules that seek to limit the effects of armed conflict by protecting the most vulnerable categories of person, namely those who are not or are no longer taking part in conflict, and by regulating the means and methods of warfare. It is therefore of the utmost importance to ensure that the rules and principles of IHL are fully respected and complied with. Although these rules and principles are universally accepted and contribute daily to safeguarding human lives and human dignity, the European Union (EU) continues to express serious concern about the growing number of deliberate violations of IHL. Better respect for IHL is an indispensable prerequisite for minimising negative humanitarian consequences and thereby improving the situation of people affected by armed conflicts. The EU is strongly committed to promoting respect for IHL as part of its wider commitment, laid down in its founding Treaties1, to advance respect for human dignity and for the principles of international law. The EU has underlined that international law, including IHL, is one of the strongest tools the international community has for ensuring the protection and dignity of all persons. Throughout the years, this commitment to promoting IHL has also been expressly reaffirmed in important EU documents, such as the European Union's Global Strategy of 20162. Furthermore, advocacy for IHL is also taken into consideration in designing and implementing other important areas of EU policy and external action, such as that on human rights - as shown in the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024,3 which includes several references to IHL (including its dissemination and advocacy), the protection of civilians and the development of an EU diligence policy to ensure that EU security sector support is in compliance with human rights law and IHL. Promoting respect for IHL engages the responsibilities of different EU institutions and bodies - the Council, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, supported by the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Commission and the European Parliament - as well as Member States. It involves the exercise of the EU's powers across different policy areas, notably common foreign and security policy (CFSP) - including common security and defence policy (CSDP) -, development cooperation and humanitarian aid.