EU provides 116 million Euros to Yemen
The European Commission announced at the United Nations in Geneva its intention to release further support of €116 million for those in need in Yemen, the European Commission said in a press release. The support includes €46 million of emergency humanitarian aid and €70 million to support resilience and early recovery in 2017.
The country has become one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises after 2 years of conflict with 18.8 million people, almost 70% of the Yemeni population in need of assistance. Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, representing the EU at the pledging conference today in Geneva said:
“The EU is stepping up vital humanitarian assistance to provide essentials like food, nutrition, health care and water for conflict-affected people in Yemen. The whole country is suffocating from a lack of food, of water, fuel, and the economy is collapsing. Civilians are paying the highest price for the conflict and attacks, including against aid workers, continue to happen.
The EU is committed to supporting the Yemeni people and we encourage the international community to step up its collective humanitarian response. Our additional funding will help humanitarian agencies in the country that operate under extremely difficult circumstances to continue delivering lifesaving aid to those in need.”
Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, confirmed the EU commitment to supporting resilience of individuals and societies in very poor, fragile and conflict affected countries like Yemen:
“It is important to help the vulnerable population in Yemen to better withstand the continuing hardship and to enable early recovery from the crisis. In this context the EU works closely not only with UN agencies or the World Bank but extends also its coordination to regional financial and development institutions in the Arab Gulf.
The extra funds planned today come in addition to the €225 million made available by the Commission since the beginning of the conflict in 2015 for humanitarian and development aid, as well as crisis prevention.”
