AUSTRIA, November 30 - The humanitarian situation in North Africa and the Near East is rapidly worsening. Armed conflicts and terrorism, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, are dramatically exacerbating the humanitarian crises in these regions. Above all, there is a shortage of food and adequate medical care. In order to provide additional aid on site, the Federal Government decided on 1st December 2021, at the Council of Ministers, to provide 7.1 million euros from the Foreign Disaster Fund (AKF) to fight the humanitarian crises in Libya, Tunisia, Palestine and Jordan.

With this donation of in total 7.1 million euros we are providing additional help where it is most effective: directly on site,

said Foreign Minister Michael Linhart.

In Libya, a year after the ceasefire agreement, there are still 200,000 people who have been internally displaced as a result of the civil war – including the most vulnerable families who now face largely destroyed homes and infrastructure. In 2021, neighbouring Tunisia once again took in tens of thousands of refugees, from Libya as well as from Sudan and Chad, more than half of them women and girls. Jordan, too, remains a haven for hundreds of thousands of people, and thus is one of the countries most heavily affected by the crisis in Syria. Of the 702,000 refugees, around 663,000 come from Syria; 45% are children and teenagers. In addition, millions of Palestinians continue to seek refuge in the region.

Our focus is on providing aid to the refugee camps in the region, and, within those camps, helping the weakest of the weak – such as children and teenagers. That allows us to help promote stability in the region,

said Foreign Minister Michael Linhart.

The AKF funds approved today will therefore be provided to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the International Committee of the Red Cross (2 million euros for Libya), the International Organisation for Migration (1 million euros each for Tunisia and Libya), the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (1 million euros for Tunisia), and the United Nations World Food Programme (1 million euros for Jordan). With a donation of 100,000 euros, Austria is once again contributing to the UNO evidence-gathering mechanism for war crimes in Syria (the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism, IIIM), which aims to document violations of humanitarian international law as well as human-rights violations in Syria in order to facilitate and guarantee the later investigation and legal prosecution of the parties responsible. 

Crises in the Near East and in North Africa also have a direct impact on Europe and Austria, so I consider these funds to be more than well invested,

said Foreign Minister Linhart in conclusion.