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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Answer

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what assessment his Department has made of the UN Under- Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinators' comments on 10 May 2004 concerning the humanitarian situation in Colombia; and if he will make a statement; [173368] (2) what (a) aid and (b) relief plans are in place for a possible humanitarian crisis in Colombia; what the predicted roll-out times are; and if he will make a statement. [173369] Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID notes that the Under- Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, indicated that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), together with the Government of Colombia and Non-Governmental Organisations, intend to launch a new humanitarian plan of action next month focused on the internally displaced. DFID will consider it carefully and discuss the details with OCHA once it is launched. DFID stands ready to provide appropriate humanitarian assistance in response to humanitarian crises wherever they occur and seeks to respond as quickly as possible against an assessment of priority needs. The extent and nature of any UK response is determined by the magnitude of need and as part of a coordinated international response. The European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) has already committed è8 million of humanitarian assistance for 2004, of which the United Kingdom's share is some è1.44 million.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

421 c1077W; 173368;173369

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Development aid International assistance Humanitarian aid Colombia European Community Humanitarian Office

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk