Today the Committee on Development has voted in favour of a crucial amendment tabled by S&D Group to be included in the EU budget 2016. The aim of the amendment is providing an additional €26 million to projects ensuring access to education for children in humanitarian crises.
Education in humanitarian emergencies currently receives only 1 per cent of EU humanitarian aid funding, despite the fact that it is the only way to save the future of the affected communities and children and, in many cases, also to shield them from radicalization. Our efforts, coordinated with and supported by Commissioner Christos Stylianides, aims to ensure that the 3 per cent threshold is achieved in 2016 and the target of 4 per cent by 2019.
S&D Group president, Gianni Pittella said:
„The EU´s Children of Peace initiative, born from the EU’s Nobel Prize for Peace, is an excellent example of how we can contribute to improving access to education in fragile conditions. Now the time has come for the EU to become the first international donor setting the target to spend 4 per cent of its humanitarian aid to education projects. Through this amendment our Group calls on the Commission and particularly on Commissioner Stylianides to intensify the efforts in this direction.“
S&D DEVE rapporteur for the EU budget 2016, Arne Lietz said:
„Education is an investment in the future. It has always been considered a top priority in development cooperation. This should not be different in the field of humanitarian aid. Education must be a principal part of any humanitarian response, especially in refugee camps. Here, we must prevent a lost generation. We have taken a first step in favour of more funding for education in humanitarian crises. Now it is the time for the budget committee, and later on for the plenary, to support this initiative and ensure that education is a principal part of any humanitarian response“
S&D EP standing rapporteur for humanitarian aid, Enrique Guerrero Salom said:
„This amendment should set the basis to achieve a global commitment by international donors to allocate 4 per cent of global humanitarian aid spending to education. The final statement of the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit, to be held in May 2016 in Istanbul, should include a clear commitment in this regard. We continue to work in this spirit.“
The budget committee will now vote in the following weeks on this crucial issue.
