Humanitarian assistance : Saving lives and alleviating human suffering

By providing humanitarian assistance, the EU and its member states seek to save lives and alleviate human suffering caused by wars, conflict, natural disasters and other crisis situations. According to the United Nations, around 75 million people worldwide will require humanitarian aid in 2015 − from Syrian war refugees to victims of sexual violence in armed conflicts, from Ebola sufferers in western Africa to islanders hit by tropical storms. Of course, each state has the responsibility to protect its own people. But where the government is unable or unwilling to do so, the EU and its member states seek to help those in need