We are meeting at a crucial moment. Today there are more than sixty active conflicts worldwide. But what is most alarming is not only their number, its how they are being fought.
Human rights are trampled, and International Humanitarian Law is treated like an à la carte menu. Hospitals are bombed and schools are attacked, from Sudan to Myanmar, from Gaza to Ukraine. And civilians pay the highest price, especially children.
Nearly 120 million people have been forced from their homes, according to UNHCR, and over 40 million of them are refugees. And one number should stop us all in our tracks: one in five children worldwide – over 500 million – is now living in or fleeing a conflict.
I have seen this desperation up close in Chad, at the Sudanese border, in Bangladesh, in the Rohingya camps of Coxs Bazar, in Colombia, and at the Rafah crossing in Egypt. What stays with you in these places is not only the destruction. It is the quiet determination of people refusing to give up, keeping hope alive.
If conflicts were not enough, climate disasters are hitting harder and more often, wiping out communities and driving people to move. The result is clear: fragility is rising everywhere, and humanitarian needs are growing fast. Today, three out of four people living in extreme poverty worldwide live in fragile contexts.
Yet, funding is moving in the wrong direction. After deep cuts last year, we are now facing the largest humanitarian funding gap ever recorded. Last year, humanitarian needs exceeded 45 billion. Funding reached just over USD 24 billion, only about half of what was needed was actually provided.
The consequences are stark. The humanitarian system is forced into brutal choices. This year, the UNs humanitarian appeal calls for just USD 23 billion. This is only half the funding requested in previous years. This is not because needs have fallen, but because the lack of funding does not allow the system to reach everyone anymore. This appeal aims to support 87 million people, out of nearly 240 million in need.
This tells us something deeply troubling: our collective ability to respond to crises is shrinking. Fragility goes far beyond humanitarian aid alone. Fragile contexts receive less private investment, less climate finance, and struggle to access development funding.
Hard-won gains are easily lost. And too often, fragile regions are used by malicious actors to achieve their political goals: division, terrorism, radicalisation.
We all know what happens in fragile countries does not stay there. It affects our security, our economies, and international stability. For more than a decade, the Syrian crisis strained the multilateral system, caused immense suffering, and triggered large-scale displacement. It severely tested Europes capacity to respond and reshaped political and public debates on migration.
That experience taught us a hard lesson: we must tackle the root causes of fragility before they spiral into global crises. This is a strategic priority, and it requires a collective European response.
That is why President von der Leyen tasked me to lead the work on a more integrated EU approach to fragility that better connects urgent humanitarian relief with longer-term solutions. I take this responsibility very seriously, and I will do everything I can to deliver on this ambition.
Today more than ever, we must stay firm in our commitment to the principles of humanitarian aid: neutrality, independence, and impartiality. These principles are non-negotiable. We will never accept the weaponisation or the privatisation of humanitarian aid.
Humanitarian aid is essential. It saves lives. But to give people a chance to recover, rebuild, and move forward, we need long-term solutions. We all need to work together with the tools and policies we have and adjust them where needed. And this is a team effort.
I am working closely with Commissioner Síkela, responsible for International Partnerships, who has agreed to co-lead the work on an integrated approach to fragility, along with High Representative Kallas on humanitarian diplomacy, Commissioner Šuica on the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf, Commissioner Kos on the Eastern Neighbourhood, and with other Commissioners as well.
But this work cannot stop at the doors of the EU institutions. It must be done together with our partners on the ground. The good news is we know this can work. In countries like Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Chad, humanitarian-development-peace approaches are already making a difference.
In the Somali region, in Ethiopia, Team Europe is working with local authorities and the UN around one shared action plan, focused on concrete priorities like access to food, water, and land. Now the challenge is to make these successes the standard, not the exception.
Strong partnerships are also essential. To address fragile contexts in the long term, we need peace actors, development banks, international financial institutions, the private sector, and philanthropies fully engaged.
Another priority is to build strong ties with the European Investment Bank, major philanthropies, and the World Economic Forum. We already have promising pilots in places like Jordan, Uganda and Mozambique, where innovative financing has helped bridge humanitarian and development efforts. Now the goal is to scale up these approaches and make them part of Europes response to fragility.
We will propose the next concrete steps of this integrated approach in our upcoming Communication on Humanitarian Aid, planned for the second quarter of this year. When we invest in lasting solutions, the results can be massive: more peace, real progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, and stronger economies in fragile contexts.
Fragility is not inevitable. Together, we can change its course. This morning, we are talking about crises, funding gaps, and fragile contexts, but at its core, this conversation is about choices. Choices that save lives. Choices that protect dignity. And choices that allow people in Coxs Bazar, at the Adré Border, or at the Rafah crossing to keep hope alive.