EU allocates €20 million for Afghan refugees and IDPs

The European Union (EU) has allocated €20 million (US $24 million) in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan and areas of neighbouring Pakistan and Iran to boost refugees' conditions. The Commission’s humanitarian aid assistance will focus on the needs for the return and reintegration of 600,000 refugees and 120,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). The most important sectors are water and sanitation, shelter and protection, the EU's executive European Commission (EC) said in a statement on Wednesday. "The funds will also help the most vulnerable in host communities in Pakistan and Iran, where an estimated 4 million Afghans are living," an EU statement explained. According to the statement, the political situation in Afghanistan, though fragile, was progressing and post-emergency development assistance was beginning to have a significant impact on people's lives. "Humanitarian aid is still needed for the most vulnerable people affected by the long and violent crisis and by recent climatic conditions (notably drought)," the statement noted. "Even now, only 13 percent of Afghans have access to safe drinking water and 70 percent of the population is undernourished. A quarter of young children die before they reach their fifth birthday," the EU said in its statement. The funding will be channelled through the Commission’s humanitarian aid department which comes under the responsibility of Louis Michel, Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid. "The European Union has made a huge commitment to Afghanistan, which includes substantial emergency assistance. With the forward planning we have done for 2006 we are able to address the still huge needs effectively and without delay," Michel said. “These humanitarian aid operations financed by the Commission are a practical example of Europe’s solidarity with the vulnerable people in the region,“ Michel noted. Being a significant donor to Afghanistan, the EU disbursed around €800 million in 2002 and over €900 million in 2003 for reconstruction and humanitarian aid to the post-conflict Afghanistan. At the Berlin conference in spring 2004, the EU pledged a further $2.2 billion in reconstruction aid for the period 2004-2006. The EU aid comes ahead of a key international conference on the reconstruction of Afghanistan in London next week. More than 60 countries and international organisations will gather in the UK’s capital to adopt a new framework setting out goals in security, governance and development in Afghanistan over the next five years.