The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, today welcomed a generous offer by the Albanian Government of humanitarian admission for 210 residents from Camp Hurriya in Iraq to Albania.

"I am very grateful that the Albanian Government has offered solutions for 210 people from Camp Hurriya," said Mr Guterres. "The residents of Camp Hurriya urgently need solutions to relocate out of Iraq. We hope they welcome this offer and cooperate to ensure the departure of this important number of people."

Introduction

Reference: IP/12/1188 Event Date: 08/11/2012

Brussels, 8 November 2012

The European Commission announced today the launching of a new civil protection programme in the Mediterranean region, building on the achievements of the successful Euro-Mediterranean Regional Programme for the Prevention, Preparedness and Response to natural and man-made disasters (PPRD).

The new programme will start in the spring of 2013 and will run until 2016. It was announced at a high-level conference in Brussels which marked the completion of the current PPRD programme.

Geneva/Zagreb, Croatia, 30 August 2012 (UNISDR/WMO) – The United Nations, European Commission and national authorities have launched a new project in the Western Balkans and Turkey that will reduce disaster risks and increase resilience to climate change.

The project launch is planned for 30 August in Zagreb, Croatia and it is aimed at high-level participants from disaster management authorities and national meteorological and hydrological services.

CHF 129,185 was allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) on 9th February 2012 to support the Red Cross of Albania in delivering immediate assistance to some 1,000 families (5,000 beneficiaries) and to replenish disaster preparedness stocks.

Summary:

21/05/2012 – Today, civil protection intervention teams from seven Western Balkan countries are arriving near Zagreb in Croatia to take part in a four-day exercise simulating a large scale flooding. The teams from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo(*) will be participating side by side with their EU colleagues and trainers from Slovenia, Germany, Sweden and Luxembourg.

(Geneva, 17 April 2012) Under the Convention on Cluster Munitions victim assistance is not optional: all States Parties must provide physical and psychological rehabilitation and ensure the full social and economic inclusion of victims of the devastating effects of cluster bombs.

Peace agreements brought the last Balkan conflict to an end more than two decades ago, but they didn't resolve ethnic tensions, which are rising to the surface again.

Read the full article in the Christian Science Monitor.

Aportará 35.000 euros al fondo global de 187.000 euros

Cáritas. 5 de marzo de 2012.- Cáritas Española ha decidido aportar 35.000 euros al fondo global de 187.155 euros solicitados por las Cáritas de los Balcanes para hacer frente a las graves consecuencias de la severa ola de frío polar que afectó semanas atrás a toda la región de los Balcanes y que ha dejado aisladas a cientos de miles de personas, sin acceso a alimentos ni servicios básicos. Miles de familias se enfrentan grandes dificultades para asegurar unas condiciones de vida adecuadas en sus hogares.