Error message

Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in drupal_settings_initialize() (line 802 of /backup/agenda/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc).

Participants were invited to make individual or joint commitments to help achieve the Agenda for Humanity. In addition, they were invited to align themselves to 32 core commitments developed for the 7 High-level Leaders’ Roundtables of the World Humanitarian Summit. Each stakeholders commitments are organized by commitment type in the table below.

Expand All

1B
Act early

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to act early upon potential conflict situations based on early warning findings and shared conflict analysis, in accordance with international law.
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts
  • Commit to make successful conflict prevention visible by capturing, consolidating and sharing good practices and lessons learnt.
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts

1C
Remain engaged and invest in stability

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to improve prevention and peaceful resolution capacities at the national, regional and international level improving the ability to work on multiple crises simultaneously.
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts
  • Commit to sustain political leadership and engagement through all stages of a crisis to prevent the emergence or relapse into conflict.
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts
  • Commit to address root causes of conflict and work to reduce fragility by investing in the development of inclusive, peaceful societies.
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts

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

Core Commitment

  • 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

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

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UNHCR commits to drive inter-agency efforts to place protection at the centre of humanitarian action and ensure that the needs and capacities of people in crisis guide collective actions to enhance protection and find solutions.
  • Advocacy
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

Core Commitment

  • 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

2C
Speak out on violations

Core Commitment

  • 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

2D
Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UNHCR commits to fully implementing the IASC GBV Guidelines by 2018.
  • Policy
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
  • UNHCR commits to providing capacity building and/or other support to 10 civil society and/or Member State partners to accelerate their ability to sign on to the Call to Action by 2017.
  • Capacity
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

Core Commitment

  • 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

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

Core Commitment

  • 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

3A
Reduce and address displacement

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UNHCR commits to a predictable engagement in situations of internal displacement, subject to resources being made available by the international community.
  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UNHCR commits to a sustained partnership with entities that wish to work collaboratively in situations of forced displacement based on the Wilton Park Principles: working through national and local systems; supporting host communities and building social cohesion; enabling economic participation and growth; providing impactful and innovative financing and improving the data and evidence base.
  • Partnership
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UNHCR commits to continue to fulfil its core task of ensuring international protection and assistance and seeking permanent solutions for refugees and other persons of its concern, working in close cooperation with States, relevant organizations and other actors.
  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UNHCR commits to enabling equitable and sustainable access to adequate health services for refugees by advocating for the removal of mandatory disease screening and testing due to status, including HIV testing for refugees and asylum-seekers; working in a multi-sectoral fashion with partners during the contingency and response phases to ensure an integrated response to the provision of assistance to refugees so as to reduce dependency and improve sustainability, as well as to improve the capacity of national health systems; advocating with other UN agencies and other organizations for the creation of a health travel passport that allows for continuity of care for refugees and other displaced persons, whenever feasible, while always ensuring medical confidentiality and protection concerns.
  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UNHCR commits to ensure respect for international refugee law and protection principles through its supervisory responsibility in relation to relevant international instruments, including through leading and contributing to the progressive development of international, regional and national refugee law and to more effective implementation of legal standards in practice.
  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UNHCR commits to expand the use of biometrics for refugee registration to a total of 75 country operations in order to enhance the protection of refugees by maintaining their key identity features and to strengthen the integrity of aid delivery.
  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UNHCR commits to further developing its dialogue and cooperation with Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to facilitate their active engagement in situations of forced displacement where their technical and financial comparative advantages can contribute to improved socio-economic outcomes for refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and affected host communities.
  • Financial
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UNHCR commits to reinforcing the Solutions Alliance as a central platform for collaborative action in support of solutions to conflict-induced displacement and to do so by engaging in relevant national groups.
  • Partnership
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UNHCR commits to support efforts that enable economic participation of forcibly displaced persons and access to finance, in collaboration with partners, thereby contributing to their self-reliance, preparedness for solutions and also to poverty reduction and economic growth.
  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UNHCR commits to working with development organizations, research institutions, and other partners to leverage their expertise in strengthening existing data collection efforts and to build the evidence base of the economic impact of refugees on host economies through active engagement in new studies.
  • Partnership
  • Leave No One Behind

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to a new approach to addressing forced displacement that not only meets immediate humanitarian needs but reduces vulnerability and improves the resilience, self-reliance and protection of refugees and IDPs. Commit to implementing this new approach through coherent international, regional and national efforts that recognize both the humanitarian and development challenges of displacement. Commit to take the necessary political, policy, legal and financial steps required to address these challenges for the specific context.
  • Leave No One Behind
  • Commit to promote and support safe, dignified and durable solutions for internally displaced persons and refugees. Commit to do so in a coherent and measurable manner through international, regional and national programs and by taking the necessary policy, legal and financial steps required for the specific contexts and in order to work towards a target of 50 percent reduction in internal displacement by 2030.
  • Leave No One Behind
  • Acknowledge the global public good provided by countries and communities which are hosting large numbers of refugees. Commit to providing communities with large numbers of displaced population or receiving large numbers of returnees with the necessary political, policy and financial, support to address the humanitarian and socio-economic impact. To this end, commit to strengthen multilateral financing instruments. Commit to foster host communities' self-reliance and resilience, as part of the comprehensive and integrated approach outlined in core commitment 1.
  • Leave No One Behind
  • Commit to collectively work towards a Global Compact on responsibility-sharing for refugees to safeguard the rights of refugees, while also effectively and predictably supporting States affected by such movements.
  • Leave No One Behind
  • Commit to actively work to uphold the institution of asylum and the principle of non-refoulement. Commit to support further accession to and strengthened implementation of national, regional and international laws and policy frameworks that ensure and improve the protection of refugees and IDPs, such as the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol or the AU Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala convention) or the Guiding Principles on internal displacement.
  • Leave No One Behind

3C
End statelessness in the next decade

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility

  • UNHCR commits to championing an end to statelessness by 2024 (the #IBelong Campaign).


  • Advocacy
  • Leave No One Behind

  • UNHCR commits to supporting States in their efforts to end statelessness, including by providing technical advice and assistance to facilitate accession to the statelessness conventions and the reform of nationality laws to ensure consistency with international standards designed to prevent and reduce statelessness.


  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind

3D
Empower and protect women and girls

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UNHCR commits to continue and tailor to crisis settings its support to the implementation of the targets for the 2030 Agenda on maternal, newborn and adolescent health to ensure safe delivery, emergency obstetric, ante natal and post-natal services in crisis settings, improved access to information, voluntary family planning, and basic items for safe delivery and sanitary supplies, necessary medical and psychological services for SGBV survivors as well as improved capacity of health systems and workers with immediate effect.
  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UNHCR commits to ensuring equal (50 per cent) and meaningful participation of women and adolescent girls in all decision-making processes and structures in forced displacement contexts by 2020.
  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind

  • UNHCR commits to implementing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services as soon as possible after an emergency, by 2017.


  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind

Core Commitment

  • 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

3E
Eliminate gaps in education for children, adolescents and young people

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility

  • UNHCR will continue to support Education Cannot Wait - A Fund for Education in Emergencies and the Global Partnership for Education to support sustainable and inclusive education programmes in long-standing forced displacement crises, which face significant funding constraints after the initial emergency phase.


  • Financial
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UNHCR will emphasize the goals of the 2030 Agenda and specifically SDG4 to achieve the inclusion of forcibly displaced persons in national education systems and plans, with a focus on leveraging partnerships and resources for inclusive, equitable and quality education.
  • Advocacy
  • Leave No One Behind

3G
Address other groups or minorities in crisis settings

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UNHCR will contribute to the development and implementation of global guidelines on inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action.
  • Policy
  • Leave No One Behind
  • UNHCR will strengthen partnership with organizations of persons with disabilities.
  • Partnership
  • Leave No One Behind

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

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UNHCR commits to facilitating faster, more efficient and accountable emergency response that is founded upon collaborative analysis and supports local and national actors and communities, through the prioritization of emergency preparedness actions.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • UNHCR commits to scale up cash assistance where appropriate, with the aim to double the amount of funds programmed for cash-based interventions in aid delivery by the end of 2020. UNHCR has developed and will continue to enhance its internal capacity and evidence base to identify the best delivery models with maximum costs effectiveness and impact, while mitigating the risks and ensuring coordination with other actors.
  • Financial
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to a new way of working that meets people's immediate humanitarian needs, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years through the achievement of collective outcomes. To achieve this, commit to the following: a) Anticipate, Do Not Wait: to invest in risk analysis and to incentivize early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people. b) Reinforce, Do Not Replace: to support and invest in local, national and regional leadership, capacity strengthening and response systems, avoiding duplicative international mechanisms wherever possible. c) Preserve and retain emergency capacity: to deliver predictable and flexible urgent and life-saving assistance and protection in accordance with humanitarian principles. d) Transcend Humanitarian-Development Divides: work together, toward collective outcomes that ensure humanitarian needs are met, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years and based on the comparative advantage of a diverse range of actors. The primacy of humanitarian principles will continue to underpin humanitarian action.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Commit to reinforce national and local leadership and capacities in managing disaster and climate-related risks through strengthened preparedness and predictable response and recovery arrangements.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • 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 ensure regional and global humanitarian assistance for natural disasters complements national and local efforts.
  • 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

4B
Anticipate, do not wait, for crises

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UNHCR commits to strengthening its analytical framework and data collection systems to provide data and information, subject to a robust and effective framework for data privacy, in a standardized, structured manner so that it is actionable by others and by UNHCR, informs protection and programme decisions, measures impact and tracks interventions.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to a new way of working that meets people's immediate humanitarian needs, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years through the achievement of collective outcomes. To achieve this, commit to the following: a) Anticipate, Do Not Wait: to invest in risk analysis and to incentivize early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people. b) Reinforce, Do Not Replace: to support and invest in local, national and regional leadership, capacity strengthening and response systems, avoiding duplicative international mechanisms wherever possible. c) Preserve and retain emergency capacity: to deliver predictable and flexible urgent and life-saving assistance and protection in accordance with humanitarian principles. d) Transcend Humanitarian-Development Divides: work together, toward collective outcomes that ensure humanitarian needs are met, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years and based on the comparative advantage of a diverse range of actors. The primacy of humanitarian principles will continue to underpin humanitarian action.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Commit to accelerate the reduction of disaster and climate-related risks through the coherent implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, as well as other relevant strategies and programs of action, including the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
  • 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

4C
Deliver collective outcomes: transcend humanitarian-development divides

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UNHCR commits to pursuing the institutional changes needed to facilitate multi-year protection and solutions strategies and programming in partnership with humanitarian and development actors, as well as to building a robust capacity to engage effectively with development actors.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • UNHCR commits to support the Global Humanitarian Lab (GHL) to promote bottom-up innovation and increase collaboration across the humanitarian sector and partners in order to incubate, make and accelerate innovation to meet and reduce humanitarian needs, in particular those of forcibly displaced persons.


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

  • UNHCR commits to the policy commitments under the Urban Crisis Charter developed by the Global Alliance for Urban Crisis. UNHCR will advocate for the principles outlined in the Charter and aim to transform them into action. UNHCR will also contribute to the Action Plan of the Global Alliance in collaboration with partners.


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

  • UNHCR supports the Global Alliance for Humanitarian Innovation (GAHI) to accelerate transformative improvements for humanitarian action by enabling and creating a shared space for the development, use, and scaling-up of innovative tools, approaches, and partnerships, for the global community to more effectively meet humanitarian needs.


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

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to a new way of working that meets people's immediate humanitarian needs, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years through the achievement of collective outcomes. To achieve this, commit to the following: a) Anticipate, Do Not Wait: to invest in risk analysis and to incentivize early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people. b) Reinforce, Do Not Replace: to support and invest in local, national and regional leadership, capacity strengthening and response systems, avoiding duplicative international mechanisms wherever possible. c) Preserve and retain emergency capacity: to deliver predictable and flexible urgent and life-saving assistance and protection in accordance with humanitarian principles. d) Transcend Humanitarian-Development Divides: work together, toward collective outcomes that ensure humanitarian needs are met, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years and based on the comparative advantage of a diverse range of actors. The primacy of humanitarian principles will continue to underpin humanitarian action.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

5A
Invest in local capacities

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UNHCR commits to expand its investment in institutional capacity building of national partners, and to support effective emergency preparedness and response by engaging proactively with first responders at the local level as leaders and equal partners and fostering their participation in the coordination mechanisms.
  • Capacity
  • Invest in Humanity

Core Commitment

  • 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

5B
Invest according to risk

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to accelerate the reduction of disaster and climate-related risks through the coherent implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, as well as other relevant strategies and programs of action, including the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
  • Commit to invest in risk management, preparedness and crisis prevention capacity to build the resilience of vulnerable and affected people.
  • Invest in Humanity

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

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to enable coherent financing that avoids fragmentation by supporting collective outcomes over multiple years, supporting those with demonstrated comparative advantage to deliver in context.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
  • Commit to promote and increase predictable, multi-year, unearmarked, collaborative and flexible humanitarian funding toward greater efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of humanitarian action for affected people.
  • Invest in Humanity
  • Commit to broaden and adapt the global instruments and approaches to meet urgent needs, reduce risk and vulnerability and increase resilience, without adverse impact on humanitarian principles and overall action (as also proposed in Round Table on "Changing Lives").
  • Invest in Humanity

5E
Diversify the resource base and increase cost-efficiency

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • UNHCR commits to minimize the links in the humanitarian funding chain and transfer at least 25 per cent of its programme expenditures to the national first responders by the end of 2020.  
  • Financial
  • Invest in Humanity
  • UNHCR has undergone a decade of reforms to reduce the share of management costs and to maximize the proportion of humanitarian funding for direct assistance to beneficiaries. UNHCR commits to further reduce the costs of procurement and logistics by 10 per cent by the end of 2020 through the use of shared services with partner agencies.
  • Operational
  • Invest in Humanity
  • UNHCR subscribes to the collective commitments under the Grand Bargain, including inter alia: - To publish open data allowing traceability of donors' funding throughout the transaction chain; - To use technology and innovation, including digital platforms, green technology and biometrics to reduce the costs of delivering assistance; - To undertake coordinated joint needs assessment and continue sharing evidence-based needs assessment data; - To continue to strengthen the engagement with and accountability to the communities affected by crises; - To harmonize and simplify reporting requirements by the end of 2018.
  • Policy
  • Invest in Humanity

Core Commitment

  • 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
  • Commit to promote and increase predictable, multi-year, unearmarked, collaborative and flexible humanitarian funding toward greater efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of humanitarian action for affected people.
  • Invest in Humanity