Publications

2015 was the year that put refugees and the movement of people back on the global and European agenda. Europe saw the biggest refugee flow since World War II, many crossing over from Turkey into Greece. They flee from ongoing armed conflicts and mass killings in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and South Sudan. So long as these conflicts are not resolved there is no end in sight to the refugee flow. Following border closures throughout Europe, increasing numbers of refugees are finding themselves stuck in Greece, which is under pressure to cope. Humanitarian NGOs are trying to support the efforts of local civil society and authorities to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Greece and elsewhere, but in a difficult political environment, are concerned about the humanitarian principles and maintaining standards.

Kicking off this issue, the Danish Refugee Council describe the difficulty of upholding humanitarian standards in the midst of this humanitarian crisis. Complementing the basic needs of people in open air refugee camps in Greece is a challenge which Secours Islamique France addresses in its article on needs assessment. The Doctors of the World International Network highlights the best and worst in the European crisis facing migrants. Looking at the humanitarian principles in the context of the Europe Refugee Response, the Norwegian Refugee Council compares operations before and after the EU-Turkey Deal. SOS Childrens Villages draws lessons from the Balkan Route with an eye on children’s protection in the European migration crisis.

In a View from Turkey, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe explains how it uses partnerships to support refugee protection and assistance in South-Eastern Turkey.

The View from the EU section contains an interview with Catherine Woollard, Secretary General of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles. She shares her views on the EU’s response to the refugee crisis, the key issues with the EU-Turkey deal, and the recently adopted Communication on Forced Displacement and Development. We also hear from CARE on the additional challenge that humanitarian financing poses in this EU refugee crisis.

Ms Elly Schlein MEP is preparing the DEVE opinion for the Committee on Budgetary Control on the report “Budgetary control of financing of NGOs from the EU budget”.

VOICE is pleased that the draft opinion reflects some of our messages from the Study on donors’ conditionalities including on the need to reduce the adminisrative burden on NGOs and increase flexibility. Together with other civil society representatives, suggestions to the opinion were proposed. Concretely it was stressed that there is no need for more controls on NGOs, and that NGOs must maintain a degree of independence from the EU including in the implementation of EU-funded projects.

This event brought together 77 participants from the humanitarian aid sector, many of which attended the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in Istanbul. In a panel discussion and subsequent discussion round, the main themes were the strength and weaknesses of the Summit, as well as emerging trends and next steps.

VOICE 2016 General Assembly Resolution: Humanitarian NGOs call for a better EU response to refugees and migrants.

This statement is made by 6 national and international networks (Coordination SUD, ICVA, InterAction, NEAR, VENRO, VOICE) and is based on the declaration of Dr F. Sivignon, President of Médecins du Monde, at the Summit’s closing ceremony.

invitation to VOICE event June 2016, reflecting on the outcomes of the world humanitarian summit.

This is the final document of the Grand Bargain agreement between donors, the UN agencies and NGOs and the Red Cross on certain aspects of reducing the humanitarian financing gap.

This document contains ActionAid's core committments at the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS).

VOICE President, Nicolas Borsinger's statement during the plenary session of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul in May 2016

In this paper, VOICE makes recommendations for the new EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy.

Summary of 3rd Grand Bargain negotiation meeting with its annexes.

draft minutes of the Grand Bargain negotiations 2nd meeting, held in Brussels on 18 March 2016. VOICE secretariat participated in this meeting on InterAction's behalf.

At least a quarter of a million children are living under brutal siege in areas of Syria that have effectively been turned into open-air prisons. They and their families are cut
off from the outside world, surrounded by warring groups that illegally use siege against civilians as a weapon of war, preventing food, medicine, fuel and other vital supplies from
entering and stopping people from fleeing. Amid the spiralling atrocities in Syria, these children are among the most vulnerable of all. They want the world to hear their story.

The study commissioned by VOICE in July 2015 seeks to examine and compare the funding and grant modalities of four donors illustrating the institutional diversity within the EU: Denmark; DANIDA, The EU; ECHO, France; Centre de Crise and Germany; Auswärtiges Amt. In total, this study consulted 43 respondents from several NGOs or networks active in humanitarian aid across 8 countries in Europe.

The report contains:

- An overview of selected donors humanitarian funding and funding architecture
- The analysis of the four donors conditionalities through a matrix that maps the requirements of each donor
- NGO perspectives on donor funding requirements
- VOICE findings and advocacy recommendations

Following from the Dutch Humanitarian Summit and on the occasion of the Netherlands EU presidency, this Roundtable brought together NGOs active in humanitarian aid from the Netherlands and Europe with other relevant actors to take stock and discuss priorities to feed into the continuing process of the World Humanitarian Summit. 49 people participated in the event which covered an overview of the Summit and views on what should be the European Union and Dutch priorities leading up to it. A discussion on what was at stake regarding bridging between humanitarian and development aid focussed especially on refugees, displacement, LRRD and localisation, while the discussion with a focus on funding looked at the importance of simplifying funding conditions, the Dutch government’s medium term changes, the Dutch Relief Alliance model and innovation.

Programme of the VOICE PHA Roundtable held in the Hague, with the participation of the Dutch EU Presidency. The agenda focuses on the WHS and different issues related to funding, including donor conditions and consortia.