Brussels, 04/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - The plethora and scale of the humanitarian crises occurring simultaneously across the world and the totally inadequate EU humanitarian budget are preventing an appropriate response from the EU, according to MEPs at the European Parliament's development committee, chaired by Linda McAvan (S&D, United Kingdom). They therefore launched a call in Brussels on Wednesday 3 September, at their first meeting after the summer recess, to immediately release an additional €250 million required this year to meet needs. This demand was made during an exchange of views on the humanitarian crises, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
McAvan said that, unlike the many people who had not had a good summer, in Gaza, Iraq and Syria, as well as the countries hit by the Ebola virus, we in Europe had enjoyed a good one. She said that we had a certain responsibility but could not do everything, although in the area of humanitarian aid, there was a responsibility and we had to swiftly provide this aid on the ground. She added that “the Council needs to show its real commitment to humanitarian aid in its approach to the budget. It must immediately agree the extra €250 million needed this year and not act as a barrier to funding to aid to refugees and people in dire need of food, water, shelter, and medical care”.
Jean Louis de Brouwer, Director of Operations at DG ECHO (Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection) at the European Commission said that “the financial procedures should be revised in order to better respond to emerging and ongoing crises”. He added that “we have had a difficult summer. Some of my oldest colleagues tell me that they have not known a period as marked by crises of such great a scale as those they are experiencing now and will continue to experience. All of these crises are man-made. The source of the Ebola epidemic is natural but its scale has a lot to do with the absence of a response, the lack of real time management during the first phase of this crisis, which is currently becoming a major epidemic”.
Matthias Burchard from UNWRA (UN Works and Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees) made a worrying observation regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip, which he described as already dramatic before the crisis: 830,000 refugees depend on aid from UNRWA, 1 million people out of the 1.6 million inhabitants depend on international aid for their survival, 90% of water is undrinkable and millions of homes have been hit. 11,230 people have been injured, sometimes permanently handicapped. He said that the UN is still present in 31 schools where it was sheltering 60,000 people. The roads, electricity and water supply infrastructure, as well as the hospitals, all have to be repaired. He said that around €800 million would be needed for reconstruction and that the estimated cost for reconstruction in the Gaza Strip would amount to €280 million by the end of the year.
Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Co-operation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, repeated that only through political determination would it be possible to resolve these humanitarian crises that are so serious and dangerous, such as the ones in Syria, Central African Republic and Southern Sudan. She did, however, insist on the fact that humanitarian aid can save lives and said that countries whose GDP is increasing should increase their humanitarian aid. (AN)