The European Commission announced this Tuesday, October 11, a humanitarian aid of more than 34 million euros for Colombiaof which 22 million will go to immigrants affected by the Venezuelan crisis.
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The announcement of this aid coincides with the visit to the country of Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, who highlighted thegreat steps to build peace and reconciliationWhat is Colombia giving?
“I am here today to express the concrete solidarity of the EU with all those in need and to congratulate Colombia for showing true generosity in hosting Venezuelan refugees in these difficult times.“, Lenarcic said in a statement distributed in Brussels by the Community Executive.
The objective of this humanitarian aid is to address the needs of people affected by the conflictespecially Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, natural hazards, and those of Venezuelan refugees and vulnerable migrants in the country, as well as host communities, the Commission added.
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Lenarcic plans to travel to Panama tomorrow, where he will participate in the high-level meeting of the regional coordination mechanism for the crisis in Venezuelathe so-called R4V platform, where the regional needs assessment of migrants and refugees will be presented.
The food assistance, health services, education in emergencies, protectionand psychosocial and legal assistance are the main sectors to which the new European aid for Colombia will be allocated.
this money too improve disaster preparedness programs with the aim of increasing the resilience of vulnerable populations, which is key to counteracting the increasingly devastating implications of climate change in Colombia, but also in the region in general, Brussels stressed.
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Since 2017, the EU has funded more than 60 humanitarian projects to support more than 2 million Venezuelan migrants and refugees who live in Colombia. In 2020 and 2021, the EU provided humanitarian assistance of €20 million to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Colombia. EU humanitarian funding allocated to Colombia since 1994 amounts to more than 368 million euros, according to data from the European Commission.
EFE
