Brussels, 05/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has decided to allocate EUR 31.75 million in humanitarian aid for vulnerable people in Iraq. The funds are managed by the Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO). Activities will include: health (rehabilitation of primary health centres, provision of medical equipment and drugs, support for mother and child health, promotion of safe transfusion programmes and support to development of accurate health information systems); water and sanitation: (emergency rehabilitation of water infrastructure, provision of drinking water supplies and rehabilitation of sewage treatment and sewage pumping stations); education: (rehabilitation of schools with a particular emphasis on improvements of schools' water and sanitation facilities); de-mining: (collection and dissemination of information on likely locations of mined areas, provision of landmine safety training to humanitarian aid workers and clearance of minefields); and emergency relief to internally displaced people (provision of emergency shelter, basic water and health services, supplementary feeding for malnourished children and measures to reduce food insecurity).
In a press release, Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Poul Nielson said: "In spite of these difficult and often dangerous working conditions ECHO's partners in Iraq are continuing to deliver much needed aid to the most vulnerable Iraqis. The Commission remains committed to providing every possible support and assistance to its partner organisations in Iraq to enable them to continue this essential relief work".
This decision raises the total aid for Iraq from the Commission in 2003 to EUR 100 million.