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Self Report 2019

The self-report on WHS Commitments below is organized according to the 24 transformations of the Agenda for Humanity. It is based on commitments pledged at the time of report submission. Click on the 'Expand' symbol to expand each section and read the reporting inputs by transformation.

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  • 2A
    Respect and protect civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of hostilities

    Joint Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility

    • Austria pledges to continue to engage in raising international awareness about the challenge for the protection of civilians in armed conflict posed by the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas. It commits to support the collection of data on the direct civilian harm and the reverberating effects on civilians and civilian objects resulting from the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas, and to contribute to the collection and exchange of information on good practices and lessons learned in minimizing impacts on civilians when using such weapons in populated areas. It further pledges to continue to look for effective measures to strengthen the respect for international humanitarian law in this regard, among them an international political declaration on the issue.


    • Advocacy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    Partners: Costa Rica, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Mozambique, Spain, Zambia, Luxembourg

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Austria commits to promote the implementation of the United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and to work with the United Nations, regional organizations and Member States in monitoring compliance with international rules and standards to safeguard journalists, media professionals and associated personnel including in situations of conflict and emergencies and to join a global effort to end impunity for attacks against journalists.
    • Advocacy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to promote and enhance the protection of civilians and civilian objects, especially in the conduct of hostilities, for instance by working to prevent civilian harm resulting from the use of wide-area explosive weapons in populated areas, and by sparing civilian infrastructure from military use in the conduct of military operations.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    The promotion of freedom of expression including the safety of journalists is an Austrian human rights policy priority. At its 39th session, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted a resolution on the security of journalists, introduced by Austria, by consensus. It underlines the significance of a free, pluralistic and independent media landscape for society, condemns defamation campaigns against the media and calls on political leaders and officials to stop threats, discredit and intimidation of the media and individual journalists. It also calls on States not to abuse laws on defamation to silence critical journalists. During the 2018 HRC Universal Periodic Review of states, Austria also made recommendations regarding the safety of journalists.

    Austria has continued to promote an antipersonnel mine free world through the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. It is committed to reaching an anti-personnel mine-free world by 2025, as agreed during the Maputo review conference in 2014. In December 2018, Austria decided to allocate 2 million EUR for demining and ordnance clearance, as well as for mine risk education in Northeast Syria. On this project, "Explosive Hazards Clearance and Mine Risk Education in North East Syria", Austria collaborates with ITF, a humanitarian organization with more than 20 years of mine action experience worldwide. Additional financial support was given to the Implementation Support Unit of the Convention, and to the International Coalition to Ban Landmines.

    Austria is heading the like-minded core group of states against the use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas. Austria supports the implementation of the UN Secretary General’s proposal for a political declaration on the commitment of participating states for a better implementation of international humanitarian law and continues to work for awareness raising on this topic in international fora.

    Austria also uses every possibility to promote the universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Field conditions, including insecurity and access
    • IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Progress on these initiatives depends not only on State adherence to international humanitarian law (IHL) and to human rights law, but also on the practices of non-state actors during armed conflict.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    The universal adherence to the provisions of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention remains a collective goal. More States need to be called upon to turn their attention to and to address the humanitarian consequences of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA), with the aim of the protection of civilians (PoC) in armed conflicts through the implementation of a political declaration on the use of EWIPA.

  • 2B
    Ensure full access to and protection of the humanitarian and medical missions

    Individual Commitments (3)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Austria will continue to train armed forces on the applicable legal framework for the protection of health care as well as ethical duties of health care personnel.
    • Training
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Austria will train armed forces to respect the obligation to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief.
    • Training
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Austria commits to use leverage and influence to prevent and end any arbitrary withholding of consent to impartial humanitarian relief.
    • Advocacy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    Core Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to ensure all populations in need receive rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Commit to promote and enhance efforts to respect and protect medical personnel, transports and facilities, as well as humanitarian relief personnel and assets against attacks, threats or other violent acts.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Austria co-sponsored various initiatives that cover the violation of IHL and/or the humanitarian situation of the relevant countries in the Human Rights Council (HRC) as well as at the UN General Assembly. Austria made national statements that also referred to the humanitarian situation of the relevant countries, e.g. in the interactive dialogue with the International and Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar.

    Lectures/seminars on IHL and the protection of civilians (PoC) are integrated in the military training and education at all levels. For recruits and non-commissioned officers, the focus of the training is at the individual level (Code of Conduct, etc.). For officers, the focus of the training lies on the role and responsibility of military leaders at different levels of command. The topic support to humanitarian assistance is an integral part of various scenarios used for the training. Training contents are revised regularly and adapted if necessary.

    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Funding amounts
    • Human resources/capacity
    • Multi-stakeholder coordination
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Progress on these initiatives depends not only on State adherence to IHL and to human rights law, but also on the practices of non-state actors during armed conflict.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    It is necessary to continue training and education based on prior experiences and to adapt training contents in an evolving way, if necessary.

    Keywords

    IHL compliance and accountability

  • 2C
    Speak out on violations

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Austria commits to promote independent fact-finding concerning breaches of IHL, in particular with regard to attacks on health workers and health facilities, in order to ensure provision of health services to people affected by armed conflict.
    • Advocacy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to speak out and systematically condemn serious violations of international humanitarian law and serious violations and abuses of international human rights law and to take concrete steps to ensure accountability of perpetrators when these acts amount to crimes under international law.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Ongoing breaches of IHL, especially attacks on medical personnel, transports and facilities, make it necessary to strengthen or establish procedures ensuring the accountability of perpetrators. Independent fact-finding missions and commissions of inquiry play a crucial role for the investigation of allegations of grave breaches and serious violations of IHL. Austria continues to support the independent fact-finding missions and commissions of inquiry such as the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic. Austria is fully committed to cooperating with the Commission by assuring to welcome its expert mission to Austria. Moreover, Austria continues to support the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC) under Art. 90 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions and hopes that after its first activation during the AT OSCE Chairmanship in 2017 in Ukraine the IHFFC can soon be operational in other cases as well, also by making use of its good offices.

    Austria has used its EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2018 to put various IHL topics on the agenda. IHL topics have in particular been discussed in the Council Working Party on Internat. Law (COJUR), International Criminal Law (COJUR ICC) and humanitarian aid (COHAFA) as well as in the Political & Security Committee. The Austrian EU Council Presidency aimed at a stronger common performance of the EU, organized coordination meetings and elaborated position papers. Furthermore, Austria strived for enhancing the visibility & coherence of the EU’s efforts in the field of IHL and international criminal law.

    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Adherence to standards and/or humanitarian principles
    • Funding amounts
    • Multi-stakeholder coordination
    Keywords

    IHL compliance and accountability

  • 2D
    Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability

    Individual Commitments (5)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Austria will offer legal assistance to interested States in drafting national legislation encompassing the full range of international crimes and expanding jurisdiction over them.
    • Operational
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • In order to promote and enhance the protection of civilians, Austria commits to offer IHL and human rights law training sessions for foreign armed forces. In particular, Austria will continue to offer the Vienna Course on International Law for Military Legal Advisers, under the auspices of the European Security and Defence College. The main aim of this course is to convey core knowledge about the application of international law, in particular IHL and human rights law, to international crisis-management operations by military and security forces.
    • Training
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Austria and the Austrian Red Cross will continue their good cooperation in organizing seminars disseminating IHL for professionals and volunteers in fields relevant to IHL, students as well as journalists and other opinion leaders. Given recent developments, special attention will be given to 1) current international events and developments and how IHL relates to them, 2) the relationship between IHL and international human rights law and 3) applicability of and compliance with IHL and international human rights law.
    • Training
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Austria commits to continue to support advocacy efforts and to forge partnerships for the eradication of sexual and gender based violence, in particular with regard to strengthening effective legal and policy responses, as well as combating the social stigma attached to survivors.
    • Advocacy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Austria commits to developing and implementing strategies for the engagement of men and boys as part of the solution to prevent and respond to gender based violence. The Austrian Development Agency (ADA) is committed to promote among Partners the full implementation of the IASC GBV Guidelines by 2020.
    • Operational
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    Core Commitments (4)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to promote and enhance respect for international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and refugee law, where applicable.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Commit to speak out and systematically condemn serious violations of international humanitarian law and serious violations and abuses of international human rights law and to take concrete steps to ensure accountability of perpetrators when these acts amount to crimes under international law.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Implement a coordinated global approach to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in crisis contexts, including through the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-based Violence in Emergencies.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Fully comply with humanitarian policies, frameworks and legally binding documents related to gender equality, women's empowerment, and women's rights.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity Leave No One Behind
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability

    The Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) and Austria Red Cross organized a humanitarian law seminar on 29 January 2019 that was well received and attended by professionals, journalists, volunteers, and students. It focused on IHL developments during Austria's EU Council Presidency. At this event, various speakers presented their experiences in the field of IHL matters addressed by the EU.

    The Ministry of Defence (MoD) organized Module 3 of the 9th Vienna Course on International Law for Military Legal Advisers in 2018. Furthermore, the preparations for the 10th Vienna Course on International Law for Military Legal Advisers took place in 2018, since the 10th Vienna Course will be held at the beginning of 2019.

    In 2018, the MoD, together with the MFA, the MFI and the Austria Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, organized twice the UN- & ESDC-certified “Course on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (PoC)”. The course targets senior experts and decision-makers working with or in the context of peacekeeping operations in complex emergencies requiring PoC. The overall course objective is to enable graduates to improve their understanding of the various mandates of operating actors in PoC, identify options for coordinated and joint actions and measures for a more effective PoC in conflict zones.

    Gender-based violence prevention and response

    The fight against discrimination and the improvement of the situation of women and girls worldwide is a long-standing concern of the Austrian foreign and development policy – at its heart the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, the political and economic empowerment of women, as well as the fight against gender based violence. Particular focus is placed on combating female genital mutilation (FGM), with Austrian Civil Society Organization projects being launched in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso, with funding from Austria. In 2018, Austria earmarked around 2.5 million EUR to help victims of FGM. During the Austrian EU presidency, Austria organized or supported a series of events highlighting the broad scope of women’s issues. Austria supported Amnesty International that organized an expert panel discussion on ”Defending Women – Defending Rights”. Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD)’ Perspectives and Challenges”. The EU ratification of the Istanbul Convention has been one of the priorities in the Austrian EU presidency.

    Other

    The Austrian Development Agency also fosters programmes to promote the engagement of men and boys inter alia to change behavior and attitude regarding sexual and gender based violence such as a project with CARE Austria in South East Europe called “YMI II - Young Men Initiative” (Oct. 2017-Sept.2020) implemented in cooperation with four local partners in Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Kosovo and Serbia. The project aims to enable positive and peaceful societies for young people especially young men vulnerable to violence and anti-social behavior in Serbia, Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project’s specific objective is to improve Youth NGOs and government capacities to integrate Program Youth - Life Skills Educational Curriculum in current educational and youth policy strategies.

    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Funding modalities (earmarking, priorities, yearly agreements, risk aversion measures)
    • Multi-stakeholder coordination
    • Other: Funding amounts, Human resources/capacity, strengthening national/local systems
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    The discussion of complex legal matters in a foreign language represents a challenge which makes the preparations for the Vienna Course on International Law for Military Legal Advisers complicated and time-consuming.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Meetings, consultations and discussions with everyone involved are needed to make collective progress.

    Keywords

    Gender, IHL compliance and accountability, Youth

  • 2E
    Uphold the rules: a global campaign to affirm the norms that safeguard humanity

    Joint Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility

    • Austria pledges to continue the humanitarian initiative for a world free of nuclear weapons. It further pledges to raise awareness about this important issue, both at the national and at the international level. The aim of this initiative is to fill the legal gap with regard to nuclear weapons in light of their catastrophic and unacceptable humanitarian consequences and the great risk which these weapons are posing for the entire planet.


    • Advocacy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    Partners: Andorra, Mexico, Nicaragua, Samoa, El Salvador, Algeria, Brazil, Cook Islands, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Malaysia, South Africa and Thailand

    • Austria pledges to continue to promote ratification of and accession to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention by States. It remains gravely concerned about the continued use of anti-personnel mines and strongly condemns any such use by any actor. It further pledges to uphold its commitment to meet the humanitarian goal of the Convention - a world free from the use and stockpiling of anti-personnel mines - and to put an end to the suffering caused by anti-personnel mines through their complete eradication.


    • Advocacy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    Partners: Austria, Belgium, Costa Rica, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Luxemburg, Germany, Guatemala, Serbia, Slovenia, Thailand, Paraguay, Peru, Sweden, Ukraine and Chile.

    Individual Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Austria pledges to strive towards the effective implementation and to promote the ratification of and accession to the Arms Trade Treaty with a view to achieve its universal application. Austria remains gravely concerned about the human suffering caused by the effect of illegal or irresponsible transfer of conventional weapons.
    • Operational
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Austria commits to engage in an intergovernmental process to find agreement on the functions and features of a potential forum of States on international humanitarian law (IHL) and ways to enhance the implementation of IHL, in conformity with resolution 2 of the 32nd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in 2015.
    • Partnership
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to promote and enhance respect for international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and refugee law, where applicable.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Austria has been promoting better IHL implementation for many years. Within the framework of the intergovernmental process on strengthening respect for IHL, facilitated by the ICRC and Switzerland, Austria has advocated and supported the establishment of a regular, focused and safe space for dialogue on strengthening IHL compliance. Austria actively participated in the Fourth and Fifth Formal Meeting of the aforementioned intergovernmental process in 2018. Austria regrets the disappointing development of the process and supports the continuation of the important discussions on how to achieve better IHL implementation. Austria continues to call for respect for IHL also in the framework of existing fora.

    On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Austria has been instrumental in ensuring European Council Conclusions to celebrate the achievements in the field of international criminal justice and highlight the valuable ICC contribution to the fight against impunity.

    Following Austria's engagement to initiate the process that led to the negotiation and subsequent adoption, in 2017, of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, Austria ratified the treaty in 2018. Austria participated in the fourth Conference of States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty, provided expertise and supported UN Program of Action efforts to curb the illegal transfer of conventional weapons. Furthermore, Austria supported the plan for an initiative to control small arms and light weapons in the Western Balkans.

    Austria also advocates for a legally binding instrument prohibiting Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) which are not under meaningful human control. Austria supports a ban of the use and the development of such systems. Austria has called for a preventive ban at the meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS in the framework of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Human resources/capacity
    • IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability
    • Institutional/Internal constraints
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Nuclear weapons are still central to the security strategies of some States. This results in the lack of implementation of Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) regarding disarmament and some reluctance to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Reassessment of the role of nuclear weapons in security concepts in light of the humanitarian consequences and inherent risks of these weapons and further, full implementation of Art. VI of the NPT, for which the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is an instrument in order to achieve a nuclear weapon free world. There has to be an active outreach to achieve 50 ratifications of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons swiftly for its entry into force.

    Keywords

    IHL compliance and accountability

  • 3A
    Reduce and address displacement

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility

    • Austria will advocate within the Boards of the International Financial Institutions, and particularly the World Bank, to ensure that the forthcoming Multilateral Development Bank replenishments deliver a relevant, coherent and cost effective set of instruments to respond to the challenge of disasters and crises, especially to support hosts in coping with large refugee caseloads, including in Middle Income Countries. Austria also will provide, subject to parliamentary approval, additional voluntary contributions of EUR 160 million to IDA 17 in order to support financing investments that address the causes of displacement and alleviate the impact of displacement on countries of origin, transit, and destination.


    • Financial Contribution ()
    • Leave No One Behind Invest in Humanity
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Refugees

    Austria continues to advocate within the Boards of the International Financial Institutions, including the different funds associated with them, that institutions deliver a relevant, coherent and cost effective set or instruments to respond to crisis and disasters, in particular to support hosts in coping with large refugee caseloads.

    IDPs (due to conflict, violence, and disaster)

    see above

    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Data and analysis
    • Human resources/capacity
    • Multi-stakeholder coordination
    Keywords

    Displacement

  • 3D
    Empower and protect women and girls

    Individual Commitments (5)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Austria commits to apply the IASC, ECHO or other gender and age markers to 100% of their humanitarian funding allocations by 2018.
    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Austria commits to reach a 15% target for gender responsive programming in humanitarian settings, in line with the peace and security commitment by 2020.
    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind

    • Austria commits to support humanitarian actors which comply with existing gender equality norms enshrined in international legal instruments and ensure the provision of adequate resources for gender-responsive service delivery.


    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Austria commits to support the inclusion of active women's delegates in humanitarian fora to ensure the empowerment of women and girls as decision makers and implementers and their meaningful participation in humanitarian actions.
    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Austria commits to upholding sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights guided by inter alia CESCR General Comment 22 including access to essential medicines and services as defined by the World Health Organisation.
    • Policy
    • Leave No One Behind

    Core Commitments (4)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Empower Women and Girls as change agents and leaders, including by increasing support for local women's groups to participate meaningfully in humanitarian action.
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the Outcome documents of their review conferences for all women and adolescent girls in crisis settings.
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Ensure that humanitarian programming is gender responsive.
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Fully comply with humanitarian policies, frameworks and legally binding documents related to gender equality, women's empowerment, and women's rights.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity Leave No One Behind
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Empowerment of women and girls

    The empowerment of women and girls is a priority and integral part of the Austrian Development Agency’s projects and programs. The Austrian Development Cooperation is actively promoting the empowerment of women at the household, community, regional and national levels, i. e. through UN Women in Georgia, and through CARE in Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

    Peace & Humanitarian Fund: a partnership between the UN, Member States and civil society. Austria supported the fund with 2 million EUR thus becoming its biggest donor. The contribution goes to projects in Iraq supporting the training of women as local mediators, women journalists and teachers. Women are trained to recognize signs of conflict at an early stage and to develop counter-strategies. Women's organizations are strengthened in order to conduct a more intensive dialogue with state institutions and better represent their concerns and needs.

    General assembly of “we4DRR” (“women exchange for disaster risk reduction”): an international network coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism, catering for female experts (practitioners, researchers and policy makers) working in the field of natural hazards and disaster risk reduction. The experience within the network internal discussion showed the importance and the "right-time" now to highlight the gender issue in the field of natural risk management.

    Sexual and reproductive health

    In May 2018, the Austrian Development Cooperation launched a call for Austrian NGOs for projects addressing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The selected projects also aim at improving the access to quality reproductive and sexual health services for women. The Austrian Development Agency supported UNICEF Burkina Faso to advance and finalize the implementation of its Country Programme. Main objectives were the promotion of girls’ education and physical / social wellbeing by improvement of hygiene and sanitation standards in schools in the Sahel Region. The additional funding contributed to the abandonment of child marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting in 200 villages in the Sahel region including Malian refugee camps. The Austrian Development Agency continued the cooperation with UNICEF in Burkina Faso with an increased focus on sexual and reproductive health (FGM, Sanitation, MHM). The Austrian Development Agency also contributes to the UNFPA Jordan Response Plan in the Health Sector/Sexual reproductive Rights. The programme aims at delivering/improving access to lifesaving basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care services to the Syrian refugees in Zaatari camp.

    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Data and analysis
    • Human resources/capacity
    • Other: Multi-stakeholder coordination, Institutional/Internal constraints, Gender and/or vulnerable group inclusion
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Regarding “we4DRR”: to promote the network, a variety of different stakeholder has to be identified across different sectors. To address the institutional constraints more efforts are needed to ensure that the institutions' capacity on gender are strengthened, especially concerning humanitarian aid and gender.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Improved coordination between actors also on lessons learned and good practices to ensure we can leverage on successes.

    Regarding  “we4DRR”: the bigger the network the bigger will be the awareness about necessity of including gender issues in the frame of natural risk management.

     

    Keywords

    Disaster Risk Reduction, Gender

  • 3G
    Address other groups or minorities in crisis settings

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Austria is committed to a human-rights-based approach, in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters, and will promote the inclusion of vulnerable persons, including persons with disabilities, to address their diverse needs throughout the disaster management cycle.
    • Policy
    • Leave No One Behind
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    A rights-based approach and an emphasis on the inclusion of vulnerable groups, including persons with disabilities and elderly persons, continues to be a key principle for the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) when contributing to humanitarian programs and projects. For instance, inclusion of vulnerable groups has been a requirement for several years for Austrian NGOs to be able to receive ADC humanitarian funding. Moreover, in 2018, ADC continued to support specific humanitarian programs aimed at persons with disabilities, such as, for instance, the "Disability and Mine Action" Appeal of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Syria and Ukraine.

    Austria has continued to implement the existing set of measures to turn a human-rights-based approach to disaster risk management into reality. The new warning system via mobile app which was launched in 2017 was further promoted; a cooperation with the national weather service was established to enhance the frequency accuracy of weather warnings. The annual Children's Safety Olympics which were extended for the first time to elderly people last year, were again carried out in 2018. Barrier-free access to information about civil protection and disaster management is provided on websites of the Ministry of the Interior.

     

    B. Please select if your report relates to any initiatives launched at World Humanitarian summit
    • Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action
    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Data and analysis
    • Gender and/or vulnerable group inclusion
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    In sudden-onset disasters and armed-conflicts it remains challenging for partners to really generate disaggregated data on the various vulnerable groups. Unless support to vulnerable groups is a specific focus of an intervention, it is difficult to really know to what extent these groups have been reached.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Collective donor engagement and common donor requirements on the mainstreaming of vulnerable groups in all interventions in order to achieve the Agenda 2030 objective to Leave No One Behind. One aspect could be to increase funding opportunities for developing partners' capacities in this regard (i.e. training; awareness raising).

    Keywords

    Disability, Disaster Risk Reduction

  • 4A
    Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems

    Individual Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Recognising the potentially transformative power of humanitarian cash transfers, Austria commits to ensuring that cash is equally considered alongside other response modalities throughout a humanitarian response and that, where feasible, cash is used as the preferred and default modality.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    • Austria commits to strengthen the capacity of front line responders, including local civil society organizations.


    • Capacity
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity

    Core Commitments (3)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to increase investment in building community resilience as a critical first line of response, with the full and effective participation of women.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Commit to increase substantially and diversify global support and share of resources for humanitarian assistance aimed to address the differentiated needs of populations affected by humanitarian crises in fragile situations and complex emergencies, including increasing cash-based programming in situations where relevant.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
    • Commit to empower national and local humanitarian action by increasing the share of financing accessible to local and national humanitarian actors and supporting the enhancement of their national delivery systems, capacities and preparedness planning.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Cash-based programming

    In 2018, the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) has continued to ensure that the humanitarian programs and projects it funds use cash transfer as an aid modality wherever possible and feasible. To that end, ADC works with professional implementing partners experienced in that modality, such as WFP, UNHCR, ICRC and qualified Austrian NGOs in areas such as food and livelihoods assistance and/or support to displaced populations and their host communities.

    B. Please select if your report relates to any initiatives launched at World Humanitarian summit
    • The Global Alliance for Humanitarian Innovation
    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Other: Lack of budget available for cash preparedness, i. e. for developing local partners' capacities for cash-based programming.
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Programs are less sustainable and more expensive; prioritizing investment in capacity development of local systems is not possible.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Awareness in the donor community that in order to strengthen local systems in the area of cash-based programming, it would be necessary to have larger budgets available for disaster preparedness including cash preparedness.

    Keywords

    Cash, Local action

  • 4B
    Anticipate, do not wait, for crises

    Individual Commitments (4)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Austria pledges to continue to develop user-driven early warning systems for National Weather Services in countries in Eastern and South Eastern Europe, Asia and Central Africa to enable the services to better calculate and prepare for the risk of extreme events and hazards; special attention will be given to reach vulnerable groups, like elderly, children and people with special needs, by carefully studying and designing their communication needs and potential reaction patterns.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Austria commits to continue to support efforts for resilience building and disaster risk reduction at the national or international level.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Austria commits to enhance efforts to better integrate disaster risk reduction into national planning and development cooperation.
    • Policy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    • Austria commits to join the One Billion Coalition to help achieve the goal that by 2025 at least one billion people around the world will have taken active steps to become safer, healthier and more prosperous.


    • Policy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to improve the understanding, anticipation and preparedness for disaster and climate-related risks by investing in data, analysis and early warning, and developing evidence-based decision-making processes that result in early action.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Preparedness

    Ministry of the Interior: Exercises were carried out on national strategic level to enhance preparedness for new types of threats like hybrid threats.

    Disaster risk reduction and disaster risk management (including resilience)

    • In 2018, the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) has continued to co-finance measures for DRR implemented by Austrian civil society organizations together with local partners, in countries such as Armenia and Georgia.
    • Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism: Continuous investment in disaster risk reduction has led to a significant reduction of losses from disasters. Responsibilities for risk prevention and mitigation are shared among the different government levels. A significant increase in capacity to enable co-operation for coordinating strategies and policies across ministries and sectors. Also active engagement by citizens exposed to natural hazards in helping to address risks.
    • Continuing networking in Austria's Platform for DRR.
    • secure funding.
    • Implementation of the EU Floods Directive, 2nd cycle.

    Disaster risk data collection/analysis

    Ministry of the Interior: An updated national risk assessment was completed in 2018. Furthermore, an assessment of national risk management capabilities was carried out together with other relevant national and regional stakeholders.

    B. Please select if your report relates to any initiatives launched at World Humanitarian summit
    • Global Partnership for Preparedness
    • New Way of Working
    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Funding amounts
    • Gender and/or vulnerable group inclusion
    • Other: protective infrastructure maintenance, awareness for/separation of public/individual responsibility - ) [Austrian Development Cooperation:] flexibility of budget available for DRR
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    • to find a balance between investments into new protective infrastructure and the need to maintain the existing one.
    • to integrate all relevant sectors and stakeholders through a risk management approach.
    • if not explicitly focused, vulnerable groups tend to get side-lined.
    • inclusion measures often exceed funding and organizations’ implementation capacities.

     

     

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    A commitment agreed upon by all donors and other stakeholders in one region that interventions are designed with specific and measurable results on the inclusion of vulnerable groups within DRR programming.

    Keywords

    Disaster Risk Reduction, Preparedness

  • 5A
    Invest in local capacities

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility

    • Austria commits to strengthen the capacity of front line responders, including local civil society organizations.


    • Capacity
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to empower national and local humanitarian action by increasing the share of financing accessible to local and national humanitarian actors and supporting the enhancement of their national delivery systems, capacities and preparedness planning.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Other

    Local civil society organizations in 2018 have continued to play a key role in many humanitarian assistance and related projects and programs supported by the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC), including immediate humanitarian aid, resilience, recovery, support to IDPs, refugees and host communities in displacement settings. With key partners of ADC such as the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement and Austrian civil society project partners, such as Caritas Austria or CARE Austria, capacity strengthening of their local civil society partners in the target country is usually one of the intended results of the program/project.

    B. Please select if your report relates to any initiatives launched at World Humanitarian summit
    • Grand Bargain
    • New Way of Working
    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Funding modalities (earmarking, priorities, yearly agreements, risk aversion measures)
    • Joined-up humanitarian-development analysis, planning, funding and/or response
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Frequently, humanitarian and development funding modalities are still parallel ones, and national/local actors continue to have to orient themselves on donor's funding modalities. Thus, investing in the development national/local capacities still tends to lack in efficiency, coherence and, subsequently, sustainability.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Increased and improved coordination and communication among donors and improved coherence and complementarity of funding instruments.

    Keywords

    Local action, Strengthening local systems

  • 5D
    Finance outcomes, not fragmentation: shift from funding to financing

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Austria commits to increase its long-term funding for humanitarian assistance and will continue to provide support to recognized and experienced humanitarian organizations working on the ground to ensure populations in need receive timely and adequate support.
    • Financial
    • Invest in Humanity
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Austria continues to advocate within the Boards of the International Financial Institutions, including the different funds associated with them, that institutions deliver a relevant, coherent and cost effective set or instruments to respond to crisis and disasters, in particular to support hosts in coping with large refugee caseloads. Austria disbursed the second installment committed under the International Development Association (IDA) 17 (see 3A).
    In 2018, Austria again provided significant recourses to humanitarian agencies and/or organizations of the United Nations (UN) System, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, and Austrian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) responsible for their local partners. The main focus of Austria's support was internally displaced people
    (IDPs) in Syria and Iraq as well as Syrian refugees in the region. In 2018, Austria also provided significant resources to the European Union (EU) Refugee Facility for Turkey.

    Keywords

    Displacement

  • 5E
    Diversify the resource base and increase cost-efficiency

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility

    • Austria will advocate within the Boards of the International Financial Institutions, and particularly the World Bank, to ensure that the forthcoming Multilateral Development Bank replenishments deliver a relevant, coherent and cost effective set of instruments to respond to the challenge of disasters and crises, especially to support hosts in coping with large refugee caseloads, including in Middle Income Countries. Austria also will provide, subject to parliamentary approval, additional voluntary contributions of EUR 160 million to IDA 17 in order to support financing investments that address the causes of displacement and alleviate the impact of displacement on countries of origin, transit, and destination.


    • Financial Contribution ()
    • Leave No One Behind Invest in Humanity

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to increase substantially and diversify global support and share of resources for humanitarian assistance aimed to address the differentiated needs of populations affected by humanitarian crises in fragile situations and complex emergencies, including increasing cash-based programming in situations where relevant.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Austria continues to advocate within the Boards of the International Financial Institutions, including the different funds associated with them, that institutions deliver a relevant, coherent and cost effective set or instruments to respond to crisis and disasters, in particular to support hosts in coping with large refugee caseloads. Austria disbursed the second installment committed under International Development Association (IDA) 17 (see 3A).

    Keywords

    Displacement