Humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid is governed by Act No. 151/2010 Coll. on international development cooperation and humani-tarian assistance abroad. Humanitarian assistance abroad is the set of activities financed from the national budget in order to prevent loss of life and injury, to alleviate suffering and to restore basic living conditions after an emergency and to miti-gate long-lasting consequences of emergencies and to prevent their occurrence and negative consequences.
Humanitarian aid includes both ad hoc response to natural or man-made disasters, and aid in long-term (complex) humanitarian crises and disaster prevention.
State humanitarian aid to foreign countries is financed from funds allocated in the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From this budget can be financed in particular the following forms of humanitarian assistance abroad:
a) providing the necessary material assistance in the form of a gift to the affected area after the incident,
c) financial contributions for public institutions and non-profit organizations abroad,
d) contributions to international organizations and inte-gration groups,
e) subsidies to non-governmental non-profit organizations in the Czech Republic to provide humanitarian assis-tance to foreign countries outside the European Union and European Economic Area,
f) participation in international rescue operations and sending rescue experts with the necessary equipment in accordance with Act No. 239/2000 Coll. on Integrated Rescue System, as amended.
According to Article 9 of Act No. 151/2010 Coll., on international development cooperation and humanitarian as-sistance abroad, the Ministry of Interior provides humanitarian aid to EU member states and other states of the European Eco-nomic Area and decides on its scope and form.
In 2016, the sum of 73 million CZK was allocated for humanitarian assistance to foreign countries in the budget of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The total amount was increased by another 30.79 million CZK for assistance to Syria and Leb-anon and for realization of the MEDEVAC programme (1.9 million CZK from the budget from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)
During 2016, 35 humanitarian activities in 25 countries were supported in the total amount of 101 241 690.53 CZK. Almost 70% of the budget (72 million CZK) was allocated to assistance in connection with conflicts in Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Afghanistan and forced displacement in those regions.
The financial humanitarian assistance was provided to following countries: Greece, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Burma, Ne-pal, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Leba-non, Africa and India, Sri Lanka, Macedonia, Iran and Paki-stan, South Africa Region, Ecuador, Palestinian Territories, and UN-OCHA.
International rescue operations and providing humanitarian aid abroad.
Greece requested the international assistance in connection with large influx of refugees through Emergency Response Coordination Centre. Czech Republic deployed convoy with material humanitarian assistance in the beginning of January 2016. Assistance included inflatable mattresses, sleeping bags, heaters, blankets and raincoats. The total amount of this assistance was almost 4.3 million CZK. Material assistance in connection with refugee crisis was sent from the Czech Republic to other countries also in 2015.
Since mid-March 2016, Czech cargo ship Albis, which was stuck at the Albert Bridge, blocked the boat traffic on Elbe in the centre of Dresden. After an unsuccessful attempt to extri-cate the boat, the local authorities asked the Czech side for cooperation. Czech team composed of the members of the Rescue unit of the Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic participated in the crisis staff meeting where the exact proce-dure was set up. On 21 March 2016, the unit ensured transport of two extrication tanks VT 72 to Germany. Both tanks were set up and secured on each side of the river Elbe. Using the winch attached to the ship and the third tug of the tugboat, they managed to extricate the boat and then drag it to the nearest port. The action itself took only a few minutes and went around without any complications.
Macedonia was affected by torrential rain and floods in the beginning of August 2016. After the request of assistance from Macedonia, the Czech Republic provided material hu-manitarian assistance in form of power generators and pumps. This humanitarian was distributed in Macedonia by Protection and Rescue Directorate of Macedonia to most af-fected areas. The total amount of this material assistance was almost 1.28 million CZK.
Detailed information about humanitarian assistance not only in the year 2016 can be found on www.usar.cz.
For 2017 the allocated budget for humanitarian assistance to foreign countries is 130 million CZK.