Humanitarian aid: EU mobilises over €18 million for the Central African Republic in 2019

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As many people continue to suffer in the Central African Republic (CAR), the European Union continues to stand in solidarity with the people in need in the country and announces €18.85 million in humanitarian assistance for 2019. This additional support brings EU humanitarian assistance in CAR to more than €135 million since 2014.

Christos Stylianides, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, said: 'For the EU, the humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic is not a forgotten crisis. We will continue providing assistance to bring life-saving relief to the people in need. We remain, however, concerned about violence levelled against civilians and aid workers in the Central African Republic. Innocent people and humanitarian workers are not a target.'

EU humanitarian funding in the Central African Republic aims at:

• helping conflict-affected people whose basic survival depends on humanitarian assistance. Internally displaced people, host communities and returnees are provided with food aid, emergency health and nutrition treatment, water and hygiene, shelter, basic essential items, education, and support to their livelihoods;
• preventing violence and providing medical, psychosocial and legal support to victims of violence and human rights breaches;
• tackling the food and nutrition crisis with assistance for families in need and for people at high risk of undernutrition, and support to the health sector to step up malnutrition prevention and treatment;
• supporting the delivery of aid to areas where poor infrastructure and ongoing fighting make access difficult for humanitarian workers.

The Central African crisis has also an impact on the entire region as 592,000 refugees have sought refuge in neighbouring countries to which the EU is providing support as well.

Background

Since 2013, violent conflict has plunged the Central African Republic into turmoil and a protracted humanitarian crisis. Despite a new peace agreement signed in February 2019, people continue to be affected by violence. Attacks against civilians have been a major driver of the humanitarian situation in the country, leading to mass displacements and a total rupture of their means of subsistence, mainly agriculture.

More than half of the Central African Republic's population is in need of humanitarian assistance to survive and a quarter of the population is displaced. An estimated 1.8 million people are suffering from a severe lack of food, and almost 38% of children under five years suffer from chronic malnutrition. Almost two thirds of the population has no access to health care, while access to basic social services remains largely dependent on humanitarian actors.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of European Commission.