EU humanitarian aid knows no politics
BRUSSELS – If there is one financial assistance that is spared from politics, it is the humanitarian aid. It has the certainty that help will continue to come, whether political winds are favorable or not.
“Humanitarian aid knows no politics,” Flavio Bello, head of sector for Southeast Asia of the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), told Philippine journalists. EU ECHO aims to save and preserve life, prevent and alleviate human suffering and safeguard the integrity and dignity of populations affected by natural disasters and man-made crisis.
“Humanitarian aid is assistance to people in need and this distinction has to be made. Humanitarian aid is important because there are people in need and we continue to contribute to give them hope. Solidarity is one guiding values of EU,” Bello said.
Bello said the DG ECHO works under the principles of aid: Impartiality, independence, humanities and neutrality. Their humanitarian efforts should not be affected by what politicians do and say.
“We work quite independently although our budget comes from EU Council and EU Parliament,” he said.
In fact, Flavio said that unlike the EU development cooperation, they are not affected by the policy of the Duterte government not accepting new “tied aids” from EU. Relief aids, which are immediate and short-term in nature, are not and should not be tied up to conditionalities.
EU extends relief assistance to natural disasters, such as typhoons and earthquakes, and man-made disasters, like displaced persons in conflictaffected areas.
In the case of the Philippines, EU DG ECHO has extended 111.75 million euros in humanitarian aid to the Philippines since 1997. This figure includes close to €75.3 million in response to natural disasters and €26.45 million to assist victims of armed conflicts since 1997; Over €10 million for disaster preparedness between 1998 and 2017.
DG ECHO also provided in 2017, €1.775 000 for humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mindanao.
“The 1.7 m euros is exclusively for Marawi, this envelop is dedicated to Marawi and has already been released,” said Bello noting that 467,000 have been displaced in the aftermath of the Marawi crisis when clashes between an armed group and the Philippines Armed Forces caused the entire population of the city to flee.