Brussels, 12/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has granted €8 million in humanitarian aid to Colombia. The funding is being channelled through ECHO (Humanitarian Aid Office). Most of this aid will go to providing food, bed sheets, cooking sets and hygiene products to around 200,000 people in the country who have been displaced by the conflict. The majority of these people are under the age of 18 and are indigenous people or Afro-Colombians, uprooted from a rural environment and forced to live in built-up areas where they have no access to land. Financing is also earmarked for medium-term projects to promote the social integration of displaced persons in reception areas. Projects envisaged include the construction of small-scale water supply systems, sanitation improvements, health care, housing, psychosocial support and small-scale income generating activities. With almost three million people forced out of their homes since 1985 and more than 300,000 newly displaced in 2002, Colombia is faced with a humanitarian crisis that is continually getting worse.