EU Commission confirms strong support to the Belarusian population

[News_Editor]

EU Commission confirms strong support to the Belarusian population

2011-03-21 20:28:09 GMT+7 (ICT)

BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) -- The European Union (EU) on Monday announced that its Commission will increase its direct support for Belarusian civil society fourfold for the period 2011 – 2013 and increase its donors’ coordination.

Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Å tefan Füle will participate in an informal donors’ coordination meeting on Belarus, which is scheduled to take place in Brussels on Monday.

The meeting is a follow-up to Warsaw, Poland's "Solidarity with Belarus" international donors’ conference organized by Poland last February 2, and Commissioner Füle has announced in Warsaw that the Commission was quadrupling its aid to Belarus civil society and would offer urgent support to victims, raising the total EU funding targeting Belarusian population to € 17.3 million ($24.48 million) for 2011-2013, with € 1.7 million ($2.4 million) mobilized to provide urgent support to victims of the repression.

This support will target Belarusian NGOs, independent media and students who are subject to the regime’s repression. The support will be provided in three main ways: increased funding under the Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights and the Non State Actors program; maintain annual one million euro funding to the European Humanities University in exile in Vilnius; and special assistance measure in support of Belarusian students.

The goal of the meeting is to stimulate discussions among donors and with representatives of the Belarusian civil society. Sharing information among donors will help them deliver their assistance more efficiently to those in need. Also, the presence of NGOs, which are allies in reforms, will help donors achieve a better understanding on how democratization should be pursued in Belarus.

The EU-led informal donors' coordination meetings on Belarus constitute a donors’ platform that has been successfully used several times a year since 2006. It has built a valuable expertize on donors coordination and the link with the Warsaw conference should lead to a more efficient and effective support to meet the needs of Belarusian civil society. commented:

“Today's meeting provided an important opportunity to further demonstrate our solidarity with the population and civil society of Belarus," Füle said. "It will help ensure that the international assistance provided in this difficult period, is focussed, targeted and supportive.â€

Invitees include all EU member states, (UN, Council of Europe, EBRD, IMF, World Bank, Nordic Council of Ministers, OSCE and IOM) and other international donors (Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine, USA), as well as international organizations and the Belarusian civil society representatives.

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