Brussels, 29/08/2013 (Agence Europe) - Members of the European Parliament committee on development unanimously voiced their grave concern at the likely worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Syria should military intervention take place. Intervention appeared imminent on Wednesday, before British Prime Minister David Cameron reconsidered his position.
In light of the latest report on the humanitarian situation drawn up by Jean-Louis de Brouwer, Director of Humanitarian and Civil Protection Operations at ECHO (the European Commission's humanitarian aid and civil protection service), the committee raised the question of whether the EU was adequately prepared for the humanitarian response before it. De Brouwer gave his assurance that ECHO was working with partner humanitarian organisations on the ground but also warned that - given the budgetary crisis - the Commission would be in difficulty when it comes to payments for covering the enormous humanitarian needs this winter. He also said it was necessary to bear in mind the risk that the countries bordering on Syria might no longer be able to cope with the massive inflow of refugees.
Eva Joly (Greens/EFA, France), who chairs the parliamentary committee, said (our translation throughout): “The attention of the whole world is more than ever focused on Syria given the documented use of chemical weapons, in Damascus on Wednesday. The situation is dramatic. Nearly 7 million people are in need of humanitarian aid”.
According to the most reliable estimates, this humanitarian crisis, which is the most dramatic this decade in terms of suffering and need, has caused 100,000 fatalities, some 5 million internally displaced persons, and 2 million refugees with a very large contingent of 700,000 in Lebanon (500,000 in Jordan and 150,000 in Iraq), de Brouwer said. “Lebanon is becoming a humanitarian crisis in itself and, if strikes do take place, pressure on Lebanon will be even greater”, he added. The borders are controlled in all host countries (including Turkey) with inevitable consequences on the number of arrivals and the categories of refugees. De Brouwer was of the view that two messages should be sent to those countries to “support them and encourage them in their hosting policy, and to invite them not to practise selective intake, either for non-Kurd Syrians at the border with Iraq or Palestinians at the border with Jordan”. Out of the 530,000 Palestinian refugees living in Libya, 420,000 are in need of aid and a large number have been displaced. “As the camps are all in combat zones, the situation is untenable”, de Brouwer said.
ECHO alone has committed €0.5 billion in 2013 for the crisis in Syria (48%) and neighbouring countries. De Brouwer warned: “We shall restore the balance of the situation with a further €250 million out of the additional €400 million announced just before the summer. However, the impact of the budgetary crisis on payments will hit us full on. We hope to have signed contracts for the €250 million for mid-October before the winter sets in but we shall not have the funding to honour those contracts. Without descending into cheap pathos, choices will have to be made between the Libyan or Palestinian refugees, the populations that have been hit by flooding in Darfur, and the central African populations”.
The European Commission is facing an enormous task in coordinating the humanitarian effort. In July, a meeting was held in Brussels. Another is planned in Stockholm on 16 September, and Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, will organise a further meeting on coordination and humanitarian law on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 25 September. “We are working within the framework of the UN call for funding, 42 honoured, and that of the High Commissioner for Refugees, 37% honoured”, De Brouwer said.
“You speak of an untenable situation in the bordering countries. Intervention is imminent, and I deeply regret it is impossible to hold it back. I fear the worse, especially in Lebanon. We are heading straight into a wall”, said Véronique de Keyser (S&D, Belgium). Like Judith Sargentini (Greens/EFA, Netherlands), she went on to ask what strategy, what humanitarian plan can be envisaged by the Commission when it cannot manage to honour its payments. Gay Mitchell (EPP, Ireland) asked whether a European force was being considered to deliver humanitarian aid in safe conditions or whether it was necessary to call upon member states. De Brouwer sought to be reassuring about the EU's state of preparedness, saying: “Our partners are pre-positioning stocks of basic emergency equipment at the border between Syria and Lebanon and in the Lebanese hinterland. Also, on Friday, a meeting is planned with the European external action and civil protection service to face the first consequences. We are setting in place an emergency treatment and first aid unit”, he said. In his view, the main problems - which would be heightened if strikes were to take place - relate to humanitarian access to the Syrian interior. Violations of international law by all parties are another problem. The ECHO director said they had worked with Valerie Amos, who is in charge of coordination for United Nations emergency aid, to obtain a UN resolution that would reaffirm humanitarian principles. He said they must work in a context that is mindful of humanitarian law, this being a major concern of Kristalina Georgieva. Addressing Thijs Bermann (S&D, Netherlands), who asked whether the member states were willing to contribute to the gigantic effort being made by ECHO, he replied in the affirmative, saying that, “at this stage, we stand at €950 million for the EU, of which €500 million is via the budget and €450 million via the member states honouring their promises”. (AN/transl.jl)