HUMANITARIAN AID (ECHO) OPERATIONAL STRATEGY
2007
Letter from the Chairman to Gareth Thomas
MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for International
Development
Sub-Committee C considered the above Commission
document at its meeting on 25 January 2007. Members welcomed the
document and found it informative and useful. We would however
like to draw your attention to the absence in the document of
any reference to external refugees displaced from Iraq. Has the
risk for them been assessed by ECHO?
31 January 2007
Letter from Gareth Thomas MP to the Chairman
Your Committee met on 25 January 2007 and discussed
the Commission Staff Working Document: Directorate-General
for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) Operational Strategy 2007. Your
Committee cleared the document from scrutiny and asked for further
information on whether DG ECHO had assessed the risk of increased
external displacement from Iraq.
I agree with you that displacement, both internal
and external is a matter of concern with regard to Iraq. We consider
that the European Commission is well placed to respond to these
needs and have encouraged ECHO to re-engage. At the most recent
Management Committee on humanitarian aid in January, ECHO confirmed
that officials were keeping a close watch on the situation in
Iraq and neighbouring countries. DFID's Director General, Policy
and International, Mark Lowcock discussed this with the Commission's
Director General for Humanitarian Aid, Antonio Cavaco, on 31 January;
they agreed to remain in contact on Iraq. A decision on whether
ECHO should re-engage now rests with Commissioner Michel.
15 February 2007
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