Annexes to COM(2012)489 - Annual Report on the EU’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Policies and their Implementation in 2011 - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2012)489 - Annual Report on the EU’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Policies and their Implementation in 2011. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2012)489  |
| date | September 6, 2012 |
The occupied Palestinian territory, where the population continues to live under Israeli occupation in severe hardship and social distress. A protracted socio-economic crisis, characterised by harsh restrictions on movement and the continuing destruction of physical assets, has led to major increases in poverty and unemployment. In the West Bank, the growth in Israeli settlement, violence by settlers against Palestinians, and the security barrier continue to affect everyday life. Strict controls on Palestinians’ entry to Israel and East Jerusalem remain in place, and farmers are having difficulty in accessing their land near the security barrier and settlements. Thousands of house owners continue to be threatened by pending demolition orders and an increase in the number of evictions.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there are 1.9 million displaced people out of a total population of some 71 million, the humanitarian situation is still precarious in many regions. There is a significant loss in harvest due to access problems and conflict. There are still many internally displaced people in conflict-affected North and South Kivu, in the East of the country. Although there has been a gradual stabilisation in some parts of North Kivu, the situation in other parts has seriously worsened, making the overall situation extremely unstable. In Equateur Province, inter-ethnic conflict at the end of 2009, followed by an intervention by the army, led to significant displacement and outflow of refugees to the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic (CAR). Persistent attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have led to massive displacements within Province Orientale and significant refugee outflows to CAR.
Despite the heavier toll taken by complex emergencies over the past few years, and the lack of respect for humanitarian principles and the safety and security of humanitarian workers, there are also cases where the humanitarian situation has improved. For example, there are indications that conditions improve when humanitarian actions are closely followed by appropriately targeted development actions[5].
3.2. Civil protection operations
As regards civil protection, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism was activated 18 times during the year[6] (4 times within and 14 times outside the EU), to respond to events such as the explosion at a naval base in Cyprus, forest fires in Greece and Albania, floods in Pakistan, an earthquake in Turkey, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In addition, EU citizens and third country nationals were evacuated during the crisis in Libya. Experts were dispatched within and outside the EU as part of twelve assessment and coordination missions.
The proposal for a Decision on a Union Civil Protection Mechanism was adopted[7] by the Commission at the end of 2011. It is still under discussion by the Council and the Parliament. Further details are contained in section 4 below.
The aim of this legislative proposal is to strengthen the instruments of the Mechanism. At present, the deployment of EU civil protection assets is largely based on ad hoc voluntary offers from the 32 participating States. The Commission intends to move to a system which is pre-planned and enables immediate action to be taken.
3.3. Financial and human resources
ECHO has more than 300 people working at its headquarters in Brussels and more than 400 in 44 field offices located in 38 countries around the world. Immediately following a disaster, humanitarian experts are on the ground to carry out needs assessments, and also to monitor the implementation of the EU-funded humanitarian projects. This needs-based approach is a key characteristic of EU humanitarian aid and how it is distributed to about 200 partners composed of non-governmental organisations, United Nations agencies, other international organisations (such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies) and some specialised agencies from EU Member States.
It is important for ECHO to have a wide range of partners, as this enables it to cover a growing list of needs in different parts of the world, often in increasingly complex situations. ECHO-managed grants and contributions are made by selecting the best proposals received. In 2011, funding was distributed among ECHO’s partners as follows: NGOs 50 %, UN agencies 36 % and international organisations 14 %.
Humanitarian organisations are faced with increasing problems of gaining access to the people that need help. This is due to tightening of the humanitarian space by governments and armed groups who disregard even the most basic protection granted under international humanitarian law on the one hand, and as a result of security constraints on the other. Increasingly, governments are imposing restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid (e.g. Sri Lanka). In many conflict zones (e.g. DRC, Somalia, Sudan) humanitarian workers are witnessing particularly brutal methods of warfare, including the targeting of civilians and frequently the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.
In addition, the incidence of attacks on humanitarian aid workers, including kidnappings, expulsions and killings, appears to be on the rise. Donors have to face the fact that not only the safety of humanitarian staff, but also the funding and infrastructure that they provide, is at risk. Some governments are willing to go to the extreme of expropriating or ‘borrowing’ funds and property financed by donors and/or expelling humanitarian aid organisations once they have been stripped of their assets.
4. Humanitarian and civil protection assistance policy
At policy level, in 2011 the Commission focused on the following strategic initiatives:
· Presentation of legislative proposals on the EU’s civil protection with the aim of substantially strengthening the existing instruments. At present, the deployment of EU civil protection teams and assets is based largely on ad hoc voluntary offers from participating States. Although the EU Civil Protection Mechanism already plays an important role in supporting, coordinating and complementing the process of mutual assistance, the Commission is proposing to move to a system which is pre-planned and immediate. In this context, preparations have started in order to create a more efficient Emergency Response Centre in 2013, which will be the successor of the Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC). It will be a genuine 24/7 fully fledged Centre that will allow the EU to take a more pro-active role in planning, preparing, operational coordination and logistical support.
· Moves to establish a European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps, as required by the Lisbon Treaty (Article 214 (5) TFEU). In 2011, ECHO initiated a public consultation and an impact assessment, as well as the launch of pilot projects. The results of these activities will feed into a proposal for a legislative framework setting up the Corps expected to be adopted in 2012.
ECHO also placed particular emphasis on selected horizontal policy priorities, in line with the commitments of the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid[8] and its Action Plan. These policy priorities include, for instance, the further roll-out of the EU humanitarian food assistance policy. The negotiations for the modernisation of the Food Aid Convention took place against this background. In order to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of joint efforts to meet food security and nutrition needs, the Commission signed a Statement of Intent on "Programmatic Cooperation on Food Security and Nutrition" with three UN agencies: FAO, WFP and IFAD.
The Commission supported disaster preparedness actions in regions that are prone to natural disasters, in order to help local communities to react rapidly and efficiently when disaster occurs, enabling many lives to be saved. This support is provided through the DIPECHO programmes launched in 2010 and new programmes in South Asia, Pacific, South America and the Caribbean. Contribution to disaster preparedness goes well beyond DIPECHO action plans, as many of the major humanitarian financing decisions include disaster preparedness or mitigation of disaster impacts among their objectives. Mainstreaming is based on activities related to infrastructure support, advocacy and public awareness, small-scale mitigation, mapping and data computerisation, early warning systems, education, institutional strengthening and climate change activities.
Under its civil protection mandate, ECHO encouraged and facilitated cooperation between the 32 States[9] participating in the Civil Protection (CP) Mechanism. In doing so, it seeks to improve the effectiveness of systems for preventing and protecting against natural, technological or man-made disasters in Europe.
The Commission also started collecting information as part of an 18-month good practice programme for disaster prevention, focusing on specific disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, storms, droughts and heat waves) and horizontal measures (such as planning and infrastructure design). The implementation of the CP Mechanism ensures that people, the environment, property and cultural heritage are better protected in the event of disasters. In the area of preparedness, EU support focused on early warning systems, modules and the training programme of the Civil Protection Mechanism (over 890 experts were trained in 2011 and five full-scale exercises were supported). In addition, the Commission provided financial support to a number of preparedness cooperation projects (setting up a team for the evacuation of citizens, evacuation in the event of a nuclear incident, cave rescue awareness raising and the clean-up of shore lines polluted by oil).
Assistance based on resources that are made available by Member States was provided within those EU and third countries affected by disasters, in response to a request from the government of the country concerned.
[1] www.cred.be.
[2] www.unisdr.org.
[3] Of which 105 million through humanitarian aid and food aid and 12 million through disaster preparedness activities.
[4] European Free Trade Association.
[5] As further explained with concrete examples in the accompanying document. See examples of Chad, Burundi/Tanzania or, in Chapter 3.9, on transition and resilience.
[6] 18 activations, 3 pre-alerts and 6 monitoring requests.
[7] COM(2011)934 final, adopted on 20.12.2011.
[8] Adopted by the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission on 18 December 2007 — OJ 2008/C/25/01 of 30.1.2008.
[9] The 27 EU Member States, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Croatia and fYRoM.