Brussels, 01/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - Concerns over the increased efficiency of EU humanitarian aid guided the Commission in three funding decisions for a total of €622.3 million, which it adopted on Tuesday 1 February, using a new, global approach to needs for 2011.
€564 million will go to pay for rescue operations in crisis areas of the world. €34.3 million will be allocated to operations to prepare for disasters and reduce the risk of them and €24 million will be earmarked for the humanitarian partners of the European Commission, to help to boost their response capacity.
Africa will receive €309.5 million (Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sahel region, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda), the countries of the Middle East and the Mediterranean €68 million (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Occupied Palestinian Territory), Asia and the Pacific €138.85 million (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand), the Latin American and Caribbean countries €45 million (Colombia, Haiti). Latin America will get €12 million (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela), Southern Asia €12 million (Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), the Caribbean States €8 million and the Pacific Island States €3 million. A further €3 million will be earmarked for small-scale disasters and responding to epidemics throughout the world.
This new system for the funding of humanitarian aid combines a global humanitarian needs assessment based on crisis and vulnerability indicators with needs assessment on a case-by-case basis and an evaluation of long-term crises known as “forgotten crises”. These various assessments will be presented in the form of humanitarian implementation plans (HIP). (A.N./transl.fl)