06/10/2011 Session
“Europe needs a truly pan-European co-ordination mechanism, supported at the highest political level by all Council of Europe member states,” said PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Strasbourg today, opening a current affairs debate on how Council of Europe member states can come to the aid of countries touched by humanitarian catastrophes such as those in East Africa.
“The current European and international mechanisms for co-ordinating the provision of humanitarian aid in Eastern Africa, as well as in other parts of the world, must be improved,” he stressed. “At present, there is no political agreement between the member states as to how humanitarian assistance should be effectively organised,” he added. Mr Çavuşoğlu also stressed the importance of ensuring transparency and broad information-sharing about the operations, in order to avoid duplication of efforts and overlapping initiatives.
The humanitarian situation in East Africa is extremely alarming. In this region – called ‘Horn of Africa’ – which covers the territory of Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti, more than 13 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid due to drought, food crisis and conflict.