Today, the EU announced the release of an emergency funding of €10 million to respond to the unprecedented increase in humanitarian needs in Haiti. This brings the humanitarian funding committed for Haiti this year to €18.5 million. “People in Haiti – the EU Commission explains in a release – face the consequences of overlapping crises fuelled by widespread violence, the ongoing economic collapse, and a cholera epidemic. The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Haiti has doubled over the past five years reaching 5.2 million, nearly half of the country’s population. In relation to the total population, the percentage of Haitians facing levels of emergency food insecurity is the second highest in the world”. “The rapid worsening of the situation in Haiti has also induced a mass exodus and a spill-over of the humanitarian crisis to other countries in the region”. The emergency funding released by the EU “aims to enable humanitarian organisations to step up the response and tackle the most urgent needs, primarily focusing on food and nutrition. The funding will also support healthcare, cash assistance, protection and logistics, in both rural and urban areas”.
Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said: “Hunger, widespread violence, disease outbreaks, disasters. When we ask ourselves how much suffering a human being can take, we should remember that people in Haiti are enduring all of this and much more. The EU has not forgotten them”.