ARTICLE - EU PLEDGES MORE HELP FOR HAITI

EU PLEDGES MORE HELP FOR HAITI
(BBC) -

MEPs have been told that the EU stands ready to pledge €33m of aid to help the continued reconstruction of Haiti.

Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva made a statement to the European Parliament on 18 January 2011 to mark a year since the earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and left many more homeless.

One year on, some 800,000 people are still living in temporary shelters.

Ms Georgieva admitted that the situation had not improved as much as she would have hoped, but promised assistance for housing, sanitation and healthcare.

Immediately after the earthquake, EU officials pledged around €2.25bn of aid - making up more than half of the global assistance to the Caribbean country, which is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere.

The aid effort was hampered in November by an outbreak of cholera that killed more than a thousand people.

Sexual violence
According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), almost 200,000 buildings collapsed in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, creating an estimated 10 million cubic metres of shattered concrete, twisted steel and other debris.

Dutch green MEP Judith Sargentini raised the conditions of people living in camps on the island.

She claimed that there were high levels of rape and sexual violence against women and children living there.

Meanwhile British conservative Nirj Deva condemned the Haitian government saying it "didn't care about its own people" and urged the international community to do everything practical to help the country and to "depoliticise" the aid efforts.

A vote on a resolution calling for continued assistance took place at the daily voting session on 19 January 2011.