EU humanitarian aid and civil protection — annual report 2016

 

SUMMARY OF:

Annual report (COM(2017) 662 final) on the European Union’s humanitarian aid policies and their implementation in 2016

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REPORT?

The report presents the main EU humanitarian aid and civil protection actions implemented in 2016 to:

• deliver assistance to alleviate humanitarian crises around the world;
• foster cooperation among EU civil protection authorities in responding to natural or man-made disasters in the EU and beyond.

The report is prepared by the European Commission in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1257/96 which requires an annual report on the EU’s main humanitarian aid activities and policy outcomes during the previous year, including a summary of the operations financed.

KEY POINTS

2016 saw an increase in the number, complexity and severity of humanitarian crises:

• more than 50 armed conflicts were active across the globe;
• more than 95 million people in 40 countries were in need of humanitarian assistance in 2016;
• almost 65 million people (half of them children) were forcibly displaced — more than ever before.

Actions

• Syrian refugee crisis: a large proportion of the EU humanitarian budget (€454 million) was used to support refugees in the countries most affected by the crisis in Syria (particularly Jordan and Lebanon), as well as people inside Syria in need of humanitarian assistance.
• Facility for refugees in Turkey: established in 2016, the facility supports nearly 3 million refugees:
  • the €1.4 billion humanitarian part of the facility for 2016 and 2017 is focused on supporting mainly out-of-camp refugees who form the vast of majority of refugees and are the most vulnerable.
• Africa: EU aid is focused particularly on the complex emergencies across the Sahel and Horn of Africa as well as the Lake Chad region, where food security crises were overlaid with a number of protracted conflicts:
  • €747 million were allocated to crises in sub-Saharan Africa. The largest allocations went to Sudan and South Sudan (€192 million) and to the Horn of Africa (€203 million), as well as West Africa (€140 million);
  • in both the Horn of Africa and in the Sahel, the Commission’s strategy centred on ensuring close links with the EU’s development aid, with a view to supporting the resilience of affected communities.
• Iraq, wider Middle East and North Africa: The EU has provided:
  • assistance to the victims of the conflict in Iraq (€159 million) and supported international advocacy efforts. The EU also helped deploy and coordinate similar assistance from EU countries through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism in the context of the conflict around Mosul;
  • significant support for humanitarian operations in Yemen (€70 million) and in Palestine (€25 million);
  • continued support for Sahwari refugees in North Africa along with conflict-affected people in Libya.
• Ukraine: the EU is one of the largest humanitarian donors (€28.4 million) providing food, shelter, health services and psychological support to the most vulnerable people suffering from the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Natural disaster response

Responding rapidly and effectively to natural disasters was a key priority for the Commission in 2016. It relies both on humanitarian aid provided through partner organisations and on the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

• The Commission allocated €298 million in emergency humanitarian assistance to people affected by El Niño phenomenon.
• The EU provided funding to support the victims of tropical cyclone Winston in Fiji and drought in Papua New Guinea, as well as to help people affected by the earthquake that hit Ecuador in 2016.

Other issues

• Education in emergencies — the Commission allocated more than 4% of its initial humanitarian aid budget to education programmes in humanitarian crises.
• Linking humanitarian aid and development:
  • EU services worked closely in Haiti in response to Hurricane Matthew and in Nigeria to address the complex crisis there;
  • in cases of forced displacement, the Commission services worked together with the European External Action Service to support operations in the field to roll out the comprehensive, development-led approach.
• Forgotten crises — at least 15% of the initial humanitarian aid budget is generally devoted to victims of forgotten crises. These include humanitarian support to Sahrawi refugees in Algeria, internally displaced people in Myanmar and Sudan, conflict-affected populations in Pakistan, and Darfur refugees in Chad.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

• Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (European Commission).

MAIN DOCUMENT

Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council — Annual report on the European Union’s humanitarian aid policies and their implementation in 2016 (COM(2017) 662 final, 13.11.2017)

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Lives in Dignity: from Aid-dependence to Self-reliance — Forced Displacement and Development (COM(2016) 234 final, 26.4.2016)

Commission Decision of 24 November 2015 on the coordination of the actions of the Union and of the Member States through a coordination mechanism — the Refugee Facility for Turkey (OJ C 407, 8.12.2015, pp. 8–13)

Successive amendments to the Decision have been incorporated into the original document. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on a Union Civil Protection Mechanism (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, pp. 924–947)

Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/96 of 20 June 1996 concerning humanitarian aid (OJ L 163, 2.7.1996, pp. 1–6)

See consolidated version.

last update 12.06.2018