EU Crisis Response

Sumario: EU Crisis Response

Images of conflict and disaster fill our televisions screens and newspaper front-pages every week. The European Union is at the heart of a network whose role is to alleviate the ensuing human suffering. The aim is to get aid to those who need it as quickly as possible, irrespective of race, religion or political convictions, or whether the crisis results from a man-made conflict or a natural disaster.

The EU is present in all trouble spots including Iraq, Afghanistan, the Palestinian Territories, and several parts of Africa. Its relief activities are global, sometimes taking place away from the cameras of the world media in so-called forgotten crisis zones and areas of post-conflict instability. These include the northern Caucasus (especially Chechnya), Tajikistan in central Asia, the Western Sahara and Sri Lanka.

The EU also draws on its acquired experience to promote disaster preparedness in high-risk countries and regions prone to earthquakes, hurricanes, floods or drought. It was one of the biggest contributors to the international relief effort following the Asian tsunami disaster of December 2004.Specialists and equipment from EU countries were sent to help in relief efforts on the American gulf coast following the devastation caused when hurricane Katrina struck in late August 2005.

The European Union's relief operations are handled by ECHO, its humanitarian aid office. ECHO's activities since its creation in 1992 reflect the proliferation of serious crises around the world and the EU's willingness to take the lead in getting essential equipment and specialist help to the victims. Its budget runs to more than €500 million a year.

ECHO considers its first duty to be towards the victims of disaster: to help save and preserve life, reduce suffering and protect the integrity and dignity of those affected.

Emergency supplies can include tents, blankets and other essential items, such as food, medicines, medical equipment, water purification systems and fuel. ECHO also funds medical teams, mine-clearance experts, and transport and logistical support. It has operated in 82 countries around the world since 1992.

The EU and ECHO cannot themselves mobilise the resources on the scale required to deliver emergency relief supplies, provide rescue teams, set up emergency field hospitals and install temporary communications systems. ECHO therefore funds and coordinates these operations, while relying on humanitarian partners - non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the UN specialised agencies and the international Red Cross - to deliver the food and equipment and carry out the emergency programmes. In recent years, about two thirds of the EU's relief effort has been channelled to NGOs with about 20% going to UN agencies and 10% to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Each partner plays its own special part. NGOs often have a key role in regions hit by civil war, where UN agencies or the Red Cross have been denied access, and only they are present. In complex crises involving big areas and large-scale population movements, only major UN agencies like the World Food Programme or the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have the ability to deliver large amounts of aid to all the victims. The ICRC, with agents around the world, is often the organisation which can move aid fastest to regions hit by unexpected natural disasters.

For more information, please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en.htm

Ref: EC06-198EN
Fuente UE:
Foro NU:
Fecha: 1/6/2006

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