In front of the MEPs of the European Parliament’s Committee on Development, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, once again insisted, on Monday 25 April, on the magnitude of humanitarian needs in the world and the alarming gap in funding that needs to be filled (see EUROPE 12917/21), calling on the international community to ‘do more and better’ to respond.
“274 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance before the crisis, according to the UN. With the Russian aggression against Ukraine, 300 million people are in need today”, he said, denouncing, at the same time, the increase in violations of humanitarian law, in Ukraine and in the world.
Regarding Ukraine, more than 22,000 tonnes of emergency aid were delivered by the EU. In addition, €143 million have been committed by the European Commission as initial humanitarian funding for Ukraine and Moldova (see EUROPE 12935/4). Of this amount, almost 93 million has already been disbursed to humanitarian partners on the ground.
“The second tranche of €50 million is being channelled to humanitarian partners”, he said.
As the United Nations launched a new humanitarian appeal on Monday for US$2.2 billion “only for until August”, the Commissioner recalled that the previous appeal (US$1.7 billion over 3 months) had not been fully funded and said he was counting on MEPs to get the Parliament’s support and in discussions with EU Member States for an adequate response.
According to him, “Ukraine is not the only humanitarian crisis occupying us. Shifting priorities and humanitarian funding from one crisis to another is not an option”.
Among the many other crises, he cited: - Syria, “one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our time” with 15 million people in need of emergency assistance and one in four children under five stunted in growth; - Ethiopia, where millions of people are in need of aid due to the war in Tigray; - Afghanistan, where the collapse of the economy means that food is not accessible to many vulnerable communities.
“The World Food Programme projects that nearly 9 million Afghans are on the brink of starvation. This is the highest figure in the world”, stressed the Commissioner.
He also cited Yemen, where 19 million people are at risk of acute food insecurity.
The increase in food insecurity needs over the past 7 years has been further compounded by the global impact of the war in Ukraine.
He added: “Not to mention the forgotten crises” - the Sahrawi refugee crisis, the crisis in Myanmar, the one in Venezuela, where “more than 6 million people have left the country and many are forced to flee because of food shortages”, the crises in Lebanon, Niger, Palestine, Cameroon, CAR, Somalia - the list is non-exhaustive. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)