asked Her Majesty's Government:
What discussions they have had with the European Commission about providing support to health, water and sanitation sectors in North Korea.[HL5387]
The European Commission food security committee met in Brussels on 5 September. The UK delegate asked a specific written question on whether water and sanitation assistance could be provided under the food security budget line. The Commission's answer was as follows:
“The projects to be financed under the proposed 2007 Annual Action Plan for North Korea would be selected via one or two call(s) for proposals. So these projects will be selected on the quality of the proposals submitted in response to these calls. Therefore, it is not possible to specify in advance what proportion of the programme might be spent on water and sanitation. The currently drafted guidelines for the planned call(s) for proposals 2007 foresee the possibility for integrated Food Security projects to include water and sanitation components; such as the rehabilitation of rural water schemes and ecological sanitation facilities”.
While health was not specifically mentioned in the Commission's response, it is clear that assistance to water and sanitation will have an impact in terms of better health and hygiene outcomes. We will look at this aspect as Commission proposals are developed.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
What support they are giving to North Korea in response to the recent flooding. [HL5388]
DfID has contributed up to £700,000 in response to the flash appeal issued by the United Nations on 27 August: £650,000 will go to programmes under way and being implemented by Save the Children UK and the World Food Programme. We have also offered support to the UN if required to assist with co-ordinating the relief effort, which is estimated to last a further three months.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in light of the recent flooding, they will review their earlier statements about the stability of the humanitarian situation in North Korea not requiring support from the European Commission's humanitarian aid. [HL5389]
The position remains that ECHO will close its programmes in North Korea in May 2008, and we agree with that.
In light of the recent flooding, the Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) has provided emergency funding of £2 million to provide immediate humanitarian assistance and we support this decision. ECHO has stressed to member states that this is an emergency intervention lasting six months to meet the humanitarian needs created by the flooding.
The EC will remain engaged with DPRK through the AidCo Food Security programme.