The EU contribution to building refugee and host community resilience (14 January 2016)

Since the beginning of the crisis in 2011 the EU has gradually scaled up its support to countries in the region. In Lebanon, the European Commission’s assistance alone has reached almost €546 million, including more than €269 million from the humanitarian budget. In Jordan, Commission assistance amounts to some €580 million for Syrian refugees and host communities and is spent primarily on food aid and the provision of clean water and sanitation, as well as health services and protection. The biggest share of the funding is destined for assistance to Turkey. In November 2015, the EU committed to provide Turkey with €3 billion – to be coordinated by the Refugee Facility for Turkey – in addition to €175 million for Syrian and Iraqi refugees already provided since the beginning of the crisis, including the above humanitarian aid as well as longer-term assistance. The Joint Action Plan which was endorsed by EU leaders on 15 October 2015 identifies a series of collaborative actions to be implemented as a matter of urgency by the EU and Turkey aimed at providing more coordinated help to people in need of protection in Turkey. Finally, in order to better respond to humanitarian challenges along the Western Balkans route, the European Commission agreed to release €13 million destined primarily for refugees in Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, bringing the total amount of the EU humanitarian aid to the Western Balkans to €21.74 million.
Data: European Commission and UNHCR.