European Humanitarian Forum 2024

The third edition of the European Humanitarian Forum will take place in Brussels on 18 and 19 March 2023. The forum will be co-hosted by the European Commission and the upcoming Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, aiming at:

• Enhancing collaboration and partnerships among nations facing crises, donors, global stakeholders, the European Union, and its Member States.
• Proposing inventive, sustainable, and effective strategies to tackle contemporary challenges.

Once again, this year’s edition will take place in a complex context for humanitarians, as the funding gap keeps growing, more and more crises become protracted and neglected, and aid becomes more politicised.

VOICE has actively worked in shaping previous editions of the EHF and in reflecting on the outcomes of the event. Following last year’s forum, the network published the “VOICE Reflections after the European Humanitarian Forum 2023” in which we highlighted three priority areas:

• Addressing the funding gap: from recognition to action.
• Breaking the silos: Humanitarian aid alone cannot be the solution.
• Preserving humanitarian space: the humanitarian principles must be championed and the impacts of sanctions regimes on humanitarian aid mitigated.

This year again, VOICE is contributing to shaping the forthcoming forum and its agenda, hoping that pressing issues such as the case of neglected crises, the Nexus, or the widening funding gap are addressed and will result in tangible outcomes.