Today, the European Commission allocated an additional €5.5 million in humanitarian aid to support the Armenians forcibly displaced from the Nagorno-Karabakh, EU Delegation in Armenia reports. Many of the people who fled to Armenia during the last year's mass exodus took little to no belongings with them, leaving them dependent on emergency aid.
€1.5 million of this funding is assigned for disaster preparedness to enhance the resilience of vulnerable communities to potential crises. The remaining €4 million of humanitarian funding is mainly focussing on providing the displaced Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians with regular cash transfers and vouchers to help them cover their basic needs.
Through its humanitarian partners, the EU aims to support people in need with access to food, shelter healthcare, mental health services, and protection.
Underlining EU's humanitarian support to Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said: “This is the first winter for thousands of Karabakh Armenians who fled to Armenia last Autumn. In these challenging times, it is our humanitarian duty to provide protection and assistance to the people most in need. With this new €5.5 million funding, we will aim to further strengthen the existing EU humanitarian response to the displaced people in Armenia, by providing them with access to basic services”.
This funding comes in addition to the €12.2 million already announced by the European Commission in response to the mass exodus of Karabakh Armenians in September 2023.
