EU humanitarian aid for displaced persons in Colombia

The European Commission has adopted an €8 million global plan for 2002 to help internally displaced persons in Colombia who have been forced to flee by the ongoing conflict. In the next few months, some 125 000 people will benefit from emergency assistance provided via the Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), which comes under the responsibility of Commissioner Poul Nielson. The aid will essentially take the form of food, non-food items (such as hygiene products), health care, sanitation infrastructure and building materials. This decision brings the funding granted by the Commission as humanitarian aid for victims of the conflict in Colombia to €42 million since 1997.

As a result of this Community financing, aid cover can be extended to Colombia's rural areas. The humanitarian aid provided by ECHO is targeted at internally displaced persons and highly vulnerable groups in rural areas. The aim is to guarantee the recipients minimum living conditions and help to make them self-sufficient. Assistance will be provided as near as possible to the communities of origin in order to encourage people to return and to prevent migration to marginal urban areas.

In the short term emergency humanitarian relief will be provided for displaced persons immediately following displacement, followed by more sustained post-emergency assistance designed to improve their living conditions and promote social integration.

The main components of the operation are: distributing food (family food parcels) and non-food items (bedclothes, cooking utensils, hygiene products), setting up community canteens for vulnerable groups among the displaced population (children, pregnant women), creating health brigades in inaccessible areas, distributing building materials, repairing drinking water supply systems, improving sanitation conditions and providing psychosocial assistance.

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• EU Presidency declaration on Colombia (8/8/2002)
• EU humanitarian aid for displaced persons in Colombia (5/4/2001)