EU Statement – UN General Assembly: Humanitarian General Debate

Check against delivery

Mr. President, Excellencies, 

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its 27 Member States.

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia, as well as Andorra, Monaco and San Marino align themselves with this statement.

As we near the end of 2025, the international community stands at a critical juncture for effective multilateralism.  The humanitarian system is facing a systemic crisis: it is severely undermined, underfunded and overstretched. 

Addressing the persistent violations of international humanitarian law and the operational impediments for aid delivery must be treated as a priority. 

We are extremely concerned by the record number of attacks against humanitarian and UN personnel in 2023 and 2024 — respectively 595 and 816 attacks, the highest numbers in recent decades for two consecutive years. This sobering reality puts millions of lives at risk, triggering a massive protection crisis across the globe.

As Team Europe, our response is clear: the scale and intensity of these challenges demand a united and steadfast response by all actors of the international community. The EU and its Member States remain fully committed to strengthening the global humanitarian system, established in 1991 under UNGA Resolution 46/182, and to ensuring that the United Nations remains the keystone of this system.  Respect for International Humanitarian Law and the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence remains the bedrock of the EU’s humanitarian action, policy and advocacy.

Political efforts towards global International Humanitarian Law compliance are essential to protect civilians, preserve life-saving assistance and reduce risks faced by humanitarian personnel, including from new forms of warfare. The EU therefore welcomes the Global Initiative to Galvanize Political Commitment to IHL as a timely process for understanding what is needed to prevent violations, and enable the sharing of good practices among States, including through domestic accountability mechanisms. All 27 EU member states have joined the initiative, and we encourage all regional groups to do the same. 

Furthermore, we remain at the forefront of addressing emergencies worldwide. To date, the EU and its Member States collectively remain the largest humanitarian donor, providing over 40% of global humanitarian funding.

We call upon others to follow suit and join us in safeguarding the international consensus on principled humanitarian action. We urge new donors to step in, and emerging donors to step up, shouldering their responsibility in a way commensurate with their economic standing. 

Attacks against humanitarian workers must stop. They constitute a blatant and outright attack against the very core of our humanitarian system. Reports indicate a sharp rise in detentions and arrests, increasing administrative and legal barriers, and a troubling trend of criminalization of aid. Worrisomely, national and local aid workers remain disproportionately affected, in particular those working for national or local NGOs.

All parties must abide by their obligations under international law to protect civilians, including humanitarian workers, and ensure humanitarian access. The EU position remains steadfast: Humanitarians are not a target - never and nowhere!

We welcome that the Resolution on the Safety and Security of Humanitarian Personnel and the Protection of UN personnel entails important stipulations on accountability and ending impunity, as well as on recognizing the specific role of the international Courts, including the International Criminal Court. Furthermore, in this respect, the EU and its Member States have proudly joined the Political Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel, launched in September 2025 by Australia. We commend all those who have joined the Declaration and urge all others to consider doing so. 

Another deeply concerning trend is the increasing and deliberate targeting of critical civilian infrastructure, while neutral, impartial and independent assistance is obstructed. Destruction or damage of civilian objects, including hospitals, schools, power and water infrastructure, is a serious violation of IHL, with immediate and long-term consequences for communities. 

To address these urgent and intersecting challenges, the European Union strongly supports the reform initiatives that provide an opportunity for transformative change, namely the Humanitarian Reset initiated by the Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher and the humanitarian pillar of the UN80 initiative launched by UN Secretary General Guterres. 

Ensuring coherence between these reforms strands is essential to achieving a common purpose and maximizing impact for an effective “UN as one” delivery, especially in conflict and fragile settings.

Equally important is the need to advance effective humanitarian diplomacy to preserve and protect the humanitarian space, reinforce a narrative grounded on values and principles, and enhance the visibility of our joint actions. This also includes the continued promotion of gender equality and paying particular attention to addressing the needs of women, , as well as the protection of children. 

We welcome the Humanitarian Reset as a means of achieving an efficient, effective and accountable humanitarian system that strengthens partnerships, including and especially with local actors, reduces duplication, and puts principled action at the center of all responses. As part of the required change, we need simplified humanitarian processes, scaled up common services, including on supply chains and unified procurement, and pooling of resources. We welcome the ambitious objectives that have been shared in this regard by the UN Secretariat. This will help us identify sustainable exit strategies, where dependency on humanitarian aid and systems are decreased. The EU’s integrated approach to fragility will contribute to this effort.

As we move forward, it is essential to build an inclusive humanitarian system - one that is locally led and internationally supported, and that leverages the unique values, specialized mandates and responsibilities of UN entities, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and local and international actors. Their respective contributions are indispensable in shaping and delivering humanitarian assistance and protection. 

Turning to the Humanitarian Omnibus Resolution, Sweden has conducted the negotiations of this resolution in a diligent, fair and transparent manner and we commend them for their genuine efforts to maintain consensus and to achieve a balanced and meaningful outcome for all. International cooperation and the strengthening of the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations is a crucial matter which requires us to act in a responsible way. The EU regrets actions that have undermined consensus on a humanitarian resolution critical to the UN system, the principled actors that provide it, and those requiring protection and assistance. This resolution has enjoyed consensual adoption for over three decades. In view of this, we express full support to Sweden for their difficult decision to preserve the integrity of the text. 

Let me conclude by underscoring that, the EU and its Member States will remain global leaders in defending normative framework for UN coordinated and principled humanitarian action. 

You can count on us to continue acting as a predictable, principled and reliable partner in support of people in need worldwide. 

Thank you.