Improving Lives: Results of the United Nations-European Commission partnership in 2007

The report, Improving Lives: Results from the Partnership of the United Nations and the European Commission in 2007, is produced by the UN offices in Brussels, and gives special emphasis this year to EC-UN cooperation in upholding human rights, in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also presents the other vital areas where the EC and the UN work together to make a difference: strengthening governance; saving lives and protecting people; preventing and overcoming crises; investing in human development; and promoting sustainable livelihoods.

In 2007, the European Commission supported the UN in these areas with over 1.1 billion euro ($1.42 billion). Of this aggregate amount, 27% went to emergency relief and humanitarian assistance, followed closely by preventing and overcoming crises (24%) and strengthening governance (22%). In terms of UN country programmes, the largest beneficiaries of EC financing were Sudan, the West Bank and Gaza, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. By far the biggest UN recipient agency of EU funds was UNDP with 26%.

The last chapter of the report highlights how the EU and the UN work together in crisis management. Here, the striking feature has been the EU's ability and willingness to intervene under a UN mandate in crises, employing both military and civilian operations, working in tandem with the UN to help create the appropriate conditions for protecting human rights during and after conflict. It also points out that the EU Member States contributed in 2007 37.75% of the assessed budget of the UN, and 39% of the overall UN peacekeeping budget in support of operations in 17 countries across the globe.

Download Improving Lives: Results from the partnership of the United Nations and the European Commission in 2007 (6MB).

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• EU-UN publications and documents (31/10/2009)
• European Union to observe the parliamentary election in Bangladesh  (18/11/2008)
• Speech by EUHR Solana at the Annual Conference of the Institute for Security Studies of the European Union (30/10/2008)
• EU Presidency Statement - United Nations 4th Committee: Comprehensive Review of Peacekeeping Operations (24/10/2008)
• European Commission, UN Development Group and World Bank agree on common ways to assess post-crisis situations and plan recovery (25/9/2008)