The European Commission has agreed a Global Plan to grant €12 million of humanitarian aid to support people who are displaced from their homes, blocked in their area or who flee to neighbouring countries as a result of the longstanding internal conflict in Colombia. The assistance is targeted to provide help to 197,000 people. The aid will be targeted at the most urgent needs, principally water and sanitation, shelter, health care, food and livelihood support, psychosocial support and protection. The aid will be channelled through the Commission's Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) under the responsibility of Commissioner Louis Michel and will be distributed by humanitarian NGOs and international agencies operating in the region.

In Colombia, more than 50,000 people will receive emergency assistance immediately after displacement caused by the conflict, 80,000 will see their living conditions improve, and some 3,000 children will benefit from adapted protection assistance. Also, around 64,000 Colombian refugees in Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama will benefit from the decision.

Commenting on this new Global Plan, Commissioner Michel said: “This is a long lasting forgotten crisis that still displaces more than 200,000 people every year. Since the conflict started more than 3.5 million of Colombians have been obliged to abandon their home and have fled to urban areas or to neighbouring countries. The European Commission remains committed to helping them to alleviate their suffering.”

The main areas of intervention will be:

Emergency needs immediately after displacement: The first 3 months after displacement are critical, and the Commission aims to help 50,000 newly displaced people during this period.

Improvement of living conditions for Internally Displaced People: Assistance will also be given after this initial period, to help some 80,000 people get back on their feet and to prevent them from being displaced once again. Wherever possible assistance will be planned in association with the communities themselves.

Protection: Repeated violations of international humanitarian law perpetrated by all armed actors of the conflict are at the source of the humanitarian crisis. This Global Plan will help alleviate these problems and address their root causes.

Children: 14,000 children under 18 are estimated to be involved with the illegal armed groups, and this assistance will aim to prevent further child recruitment.

Refugees: Aid will be offered to Colombian refugees and asylum seekers in Ecuador Venezuela and Panama, in large part through UNHCR. Up to 64,000 people will benefit from this help.

Coordination: the Commission will offer funding through the UN system to enable better coordination of humanitarian aid in Colombia.

For the past 40 years there has been a complex armed conflict in Colombia which now involves the government and several different armed groups and that has caused the biggest humanitarian crisis in Latin America. Most of the displaced persons are living in precarious circumstances, having come from predominantly rural, agricultural areas and being displaced into urban settings. Consequently, ECHO has deployed its biggest humanitarian operation in the continent, bringing relief to victims of the conflict in Colombia since 1997 and has provided humanitarian assistance worth € 96 million over that period.