Human rights

The Luxembourg government prioritises the promotion and defence of human rights through the various elements of its external action.

Within the United Nations, Luxembourg’s action is undertaken with the aim of achieving Agenda 2030’s sustainable development goals.

In 2022, the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) programmes in Tunisia, Colombia and East Africa continued, with the support of the Luxembourg Development Cooperation.

In 2022, the Luxembourg Development Cooperation continued to support the regional office (RO) of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for East Africa.

In view of the changes to the situation in 2022, the Luxembourg Development Cooperation continued to support the NGO Front Line Defenders (FLD) in Nicaragua, in particular through the allocation of 34 protection grants to human rights defenders (HRDs) at risk, 50% of which went to women, so that they could benefit from increased security.

Luxembourg’s commitment to the implementation of the United Nations guiding principles on business and human rights and the guidelines of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will be continued and expanded by two new instruments that will complement the Business Partnership Facility (BPF) tool.

Since 2019, Luxembourg has supported the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC), managed by UNESCO, which helps to mobilise the international community around discussion of progress with the media in developing countries.

Despite the difficult context for work on the ground since the coup d’état in 2021, the Luxembourg Development Cooperation remains present in Myanmar.

Land governance is often at the centre of development challenges: these include issues linked to land expropriation, large-scale land acquisition and investment, land disputes and recognition of customary land tenure.