UK pledges USD 1.3 million humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh as crisis worsens

On October 30, the UK pledged USD 1.3 million (£1 million) humanitarian aid package for displaced civilians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Foreign Minister Dominic Raab announced that Britain will send food and medical supplies to help people affected in the disputed territory after an appeal was made by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Speaking to the press, UK’s foreign minister said that the country will supply dressing kits, bandages, blankets, food parcels, and basic hygiene items to vulnerable communities living in the conflicted region.

Further, in a televised address, Raab urged the warring sides to engage with the OSCE Minsk Group and seek a peaceful negotiation, a political solution which the people of the region desperately needs. According to the UK’s Foreign Office, the ICRC urged the nations to provide Nagorno-Karabakh with humanitarian assistance of USD 9 million. An OCHA release confirmed that civilians devastated in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will receive urgent medical supplies, food, and safer shelters from a new UK aid package.

Since the confrontation broke out in September in one of the largest escalations of hostilities between the military forces Armenia and Azerbaijan, tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, with growing numbers of civilian casualties and damage to homes and vital infrastructure. “People injured in the fighting, including children caught in the crossfire, will receive life-saving treatment at health facilities or from emergency responders supported by the ICRC,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. 

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“With this emergency support to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Red Cross of Armenia and Red Crescent of Azerbaijan will deliver food packages, blankets, hygiene items and other urgently needed help to civilians who were forced to flee due to the hostilities,” UN OCHA appealed.

Funds for crisis recovery

According to the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (EU), the conflict has brought emergency aid close to €400,000 for civilians which were urgently needed to cover the most urgent needs of the civilians that suffered in the rigorous fighting. Meanwhile, Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said that while the funds are being raised for the crisis recovery, the EU calls for an immediate end to the hostilities that have claimed umpteen civilian lives. “We are extremely concerned about the deterioration of the humanitarian situation, given the upcoming cold season and the aggravating coronavirus pandemic,” he added. 

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