EU announces additional 38 million euros in aid for Haiti

The European Union said it was giving an additional 38 million euros in cash aid to Haiti, which is combating drought and a migration crisis with neighbouring Dominican Republic.

The funding included 12.2 million euros for food and drinking water to more than 400,000 Haitians, an EU news release said.

The El Nino weather phenomenon has devastated crops, with losses of up to 70% in some areas. About 3.6 million Haitians are facing food insecurity, with 1.3 million among them severely food insecure, according to the World Food Program.

The EU was also allocating 400,000 euros to assist people in Haiti who had been deported from the Dominican Republic.

The neighbouring country began enforcing an immigration policy in summer 2015 primarily targeting people of Haitian origin.

Since then, some 87,000 people have been forced across the border into Haiti, where some have never lived. Among them are more than 1,200 unaccompanied minors, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Some were deported so suddenly that they arrive with only the clothes on their backs. Thousands are living near the border in makeshift dwellings with poor sanitation.

In addition to the emergency aid, the EU was also providing 17 million for medium and long-term projects aimed at helping Haiti build its capacity to respond to climate threats.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas, crippled by long-term political instability and a devastating quake in 2010.