Syria, Yemen, Burma, Libya, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo - vulnerable populations in these countries that are the victims of “forgotten” humanitarian crises, respect for international humanitarian law, education for children in emergency situations and links between humanitarian aid and development are among the priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU in the humanitarian field.
The MEPs of the committee on development of the European Parliament welcomed these priorities when Ekaterina Zaharieva, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, attended to present them on Wednesday 24 January. They had just found out about the deadly terrorist attack perpetrated against the NGO Save the Children in Afghanistan, against which they spoke out in the strongest possible terms (see other article).
“What happened in Afghanistan this morning illustrates the importance of our priority - international humanitarian work goes unnoticed in certain countries. We must bear in mind the fact that the number one priority must be aid and respecting the principles of international humanitarian law. According to the UN, there are more than 145 million people living in abject poverty in 2018, 105 million are in receipt of aid, but there is a funding gap of $25 million this year alone”, Zaharieva said.
To give an idea of the needs to be covered, the Minister said that there were 13 million people living in abject poverty in Syria, 11 million in Yemen, one third of Burmese children suffer from malnutrition, 60% of the Libyan population requires humanitarian aid and there are millions of displaced persons in DRC and South Sudan.
She went stressed the need to step up efforts to respond to the migration crisis. “The EU is at the head of humanitarian response, but the problem needs to be tackled at its roots. Conflicts in Africa are increasingly serious due to drought and lack of arable land”, she said, referring in particular to conflicts due to climate change, with 166 countries in the world listed as most vulnerable to climate change.
Zaharieva argued that the response must come through a reform of the international system of humanitarian aid and the European strategy to reinforce the resilience of vulnerable states and societies, which was presented on 7 June 2017, must be used (see EUROPE 11803).
The Bulgarian Presidency aims to continue to monitor progress in the implementation of the commitments made at the global humanitarian summit of Istanbul and will take as its basis the debate already launched by Spain, France, Italy and Portugal for a more systematic approach to effective crisis response. “We are considering establishing a procedure for the sharing of information on crisis planning and response”, she said.
The Presidency also plans to support and emphasise EU actions for protection from violence against women living in emergency situations, most notably sexual violence in specific humanitarian crises. Promoting access to quality education for children and humanitarian emergency situations will be another priority, in line with the sustainable development goals up to 2030.
Taking questions, the Bulgarian minister said that development aid was used to give prospects and generate a feeling of security in the countries of origin of migration flows, not to make humanitarian aid a long-term solution. She went on to say that in view of breaches of international humanitarian law, the “very clear political reaction must be unanimous”.
The MEPs are very much on the same wavelength. “We have a very good feeling about the Bulgarian approach”, commented the chair of the parliamentary committee, Linda McAvan (S&D, UK). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)