The EU will mobilise €30 million in emergency humanitarian aid and €20 million in development aid for Iraq, announced the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, on Wednesday 20 February from Mosul, where he was on a visit accompanied by Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
Humanitarian aid will provide protection, health care, shelter, food, access to safe water and sanitation, hygiene supplies, and medical and psychological support for victims of sexual violence to internally displaced persons and Syrian refugees in Iraq. It will also boost basic public services in Mosul, Hawija and Anbar.
Reconstruction of cultural heritage. The €20 million in development aid will finance the vocational training of young people in the reconstruction of urban cultural heritage in Mosul and Basrah, and loans to small businesses and associations for the revival of socio-economic or cultural activities. This Financing Agreement will be signed on Thursday 21 February as part of the UNESCO initiative 'Reviving the spirit of Mosul'.
This additional aid will bring the EU's humanitarian aid to Iraq to €420 million since the beginning of the crisis in 2015 and the development aid effort to €309 million. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)