Humanitarian aid: aid to uprooted people (refugees, displaced persons) in Asian and Latin American developing countries

PURPOSE : Consolidated report for 1997-1999 on the implementation of a Council Regulation to aid displaced people in Asian and Latin american developing countries. CONTENT : the following lessons can be drawn from the 1997-1999 budget years: - the funding available is adequate to the needs of uprooted people. - operations in Asia and Latin America reflect real needs and the scope for improving the situation. - the number of Commission staff assigned to implement the operations remains insufficient and necessitate recourse to outside consultants, who have provided crucial and effective assistance with identification, monitoring and evaluation. - organisational and procedural changes account for certain delays described in this report. The report details the procedural problems that have led to delays in the finalisation of contracts. The report concludes, however, that this budget heading has contributed substantially towards meeting basic needs of displaced people in Asia and Latin America that could not be met by humanitarian aid. The implementation of the Regulation has been highly encouraging from the standpoint of annual commitments and the issue of uprooted people. The budget allocation have reflected both the numbers of uprooted people and the context, scale and nature of their needs. Programme design and project selection ahve taken account of the determining factors and causes of probmlems (aid, repatriation, integration). they have taken accouint of the nature of the conflict, the policies of the host government, the operating environment, the order of sectoral priorities and the management and implementing capacities of partner agencies. Greater complementarity between operations should make it easier to keep track of the issues, programme management and absorption capacities on the ground. Priority has been given to the beneficiaries and the implementation of programmes, which accounts for the delays in the presentation of this activity report.�