HUMANITARIAN AID AND CIVIL PROTECTION AS THE EUROPEAN UNION ACTIVITY DIRECTION FOR THE PROMOTION OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY

Abstract

Humanitarian aid and civil protection are among the directions of the European Union’s foreign policy. Aid is provided through 200+ international and local partner organizations and agencies and is supported by thousands of European volunteers. This makes the EU one of the most powerful humanitarian donors in the world. On the international scene, the Union maintains and promotes its values and interests and furthers peace, security, sustainable development and mutual respect among peoples. Life-saving, preventing and alleviating human suffering, preserving the honor and dignity of the population affected by natural disasters and man-made crises are the mission to the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations. All the EU and its Member States’ humanitarian assistance activities are carried out in accordance with the norms of international humanitarian law and its basic principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. The EU assistance operations are guided by the following additional principles: coordination, coherence and complementarity between actors involved; quality, efficiency and accountability; a variety of partnership relations. A number of normative legal documents regulate the EU humanitarian activity in protecting people’s lives during emergencies and overcoming their immediate negative consequences; providing necessary assistance to victims of long-term crises, especially where governments are unable to help; fighting the consequences of the resettlement of the population; assuring preparedness for natural disaster risks and the use of appropriate early warning systems, etc. Since 1992, the EU has been providing assistance to victims of numerous catastrophes around the world, including victims of the war in Yugoslavia, genocide in Rwanda, the civil war in Sudan; victims of natural disasters in the Pacific, West Africa, the Balkans, etc. Today Ukraine is also the recipient of the EU humanitarian aid.