Humanitarian aid

The Committee on Development and Cooperation adopted the report by Mrs Francisca SAUQUILLO PEREZ DEL ARCO (PSE, E) on the humanitarian aid policy of the European Union. A special Commission service dedicated to humanitarian aid was set up in 1992 (ECHO) and is involved in planning a global Community strategy. The procedures for funding and implementing the humanitarian aid projects planned by ECHO are decided within a framework partnership contract, thereby ensuring that the European Community's humanitarian projects are implemented by the best placed units on the ground. As far as the objectives of ECHO are concerned, the aid proposed by the Community funds preparatory studies, technical assistance in implementing humanitarian projects, public awareness and information campaigns etc. Greater coordination is needed between humanitarian policy and development policy. Particular importance is granted to the coordination needed between the activities of all ECHO's operational partners in order to guarantee the efficiency and complementarity of humanitarian aid projects. The report also called for the 1996 IGC to address the question of the legal basis for humanitarian aid.�