Europe and Me

Making the world a better place? The European Union

African Aid

There is fighting between two African countries

Many people fled their homes – They have no food…

In a different country some young people plan a sports event to raise money to help…

Finally, it is time to add up the money they have made

How can they use the money to help the situation in Africa?

Development Aid Spending as a percentage of national income Source: OECD 2005

Did you know? Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and women raped, and many more have fled their homes as the result of a conflict between ethnic and tribal groups in Darfur. Darfur is a region of Sudan, the largest country in Africa. The conflict began in On one side is the Janjaweed, a group of armed citizens recruited from Arab tribes that move from place to place with their herds of camels. On the other side are a number of rebel armies, recruited from the black ethnic groups who make a living farming the land. The conflict started when by Arab tribes needed to go into the land of the black farmers to get water for their animals. The government of Sudan says it does not support the Janjaweed – but it has helped them and given them money, and even participated in joint attacks. It has also obstructed journalists trying to find out what is going on and jailed witnesses to the conflict.

Did you know? Fifty-one European youth organisations signed a joint statement calling for the international community and the EU to take action on Darfur. The statement was initiated by the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) and signed during the General Assembly of the European Youth Forum in Azerbaijan. In co-operation with Amnesty International and several other non-governmental organisations, EUJS organised a whole-day event in the centre of Brussels marking the Third Global Day for Darfur. Many Belgian and European politicians attended.

Did you know? The EU has taken a number of measures to help the people of Darfur – including: criticising the human rights abuse there applying an arms embargo providing over €500 million in humanitarian aid appointing a Special Representative for Sudan training African peace-keeping troops. EU policy has been to try to help without interfering in the conflict - on the grounds that it is an African not a European conflict. Critics say it should get more involved.

Did you know? The EU and its Member States is the world’s largest donor to developing countries and accounts for more than half of the world’s official development assistance. The main ways it does this are through: humanitarian aid – by giving emergency help to victims of natural disasters and armed conflict in more than one hundred countries development aid – by giving longer-term help to poorer countries in the form of direct technical or financial assistance trade – by opening up its market to goods from developing countries and encouraging developing countries to open up their own markets to European products conflict prevention – by sending military or police forces to areas of crisis to carry out humanitarian operations, peacekeeping or crisis management.