World Humanitarian Day
No further delay in urgently needed funds
19 August is World Humanitarian Day - a day dedicated to all the helpers who do their best to make the world a better place for millions of people affected by poverty. THANK YOU!
At the same time, we would like to take this opportunity to draw attention to the situation in the CONCORDIA project countries.
Crises do not take a summer break
The summer temperatures in Central Europe may hide the continuing states of war and trouble spots. Here, it is the peak holiday and fair-weather season. But autumn is already casting its shadow in Europe.
Humanitarian crises do not take a summer break. Every day, children die in armed conflicts and their consequences. More than 84 million people are on the run worldwide - around 42% of them are children (UNHCR). They and their families need protection and humanitarian aid. In the medium and long term, they need trauma-sensitive support measures and perspectives.
In Ukraine and other crisis areas and regions affected by great poverty, people already do not have the necessary livelihood to provide for themselves and their children in a humane way. In the CONCORDIA project countries Moldova and Kosovo, a dangerous mix of rising prices, lack of social packages, unstable security situation and insufficient means for de-escalation is emerging. Currently, the drought is causing problems for the Moldovan population and agriculture, and is driving up food prices even more. Water shortages are forcing rationing.
Federal government must make funds available
We take the occasion of Humanitarian Aid Day to remind the Austrian Federal Government of the Humanitarian Aid Strategy of the Republic of Austria and the legally required three-year programme of the Austrian Development Policy 2022-2024, which should have been adopted already at the end of 2021. As quickly as after the outbreak of the Ukraine war the need of the people in Ukraine and its neighbouring countries was responded to with a one-time increase of the Foreign Disaster Fund (AKF), there is now a need for further funds and Austria's continued international solidarity in view of the existing conflicts and impacts on the people in the Global South.
