"Europe in Crisis – Think Differently", eine Studie der Internationale Föderation der Rotkreuz- und Rothalbmond-Gesellschaften über die Auswirkungen der Krise auf Europas arme Bevölkerung, 10.10.2013 (engl. Originalfassung)
Almost five years after the beginning of the economic crisis, National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies continue to report a general rise in needs from existing as well as from new vulnerable groups. In many cases, the assistance to those affected by the crisis has increased, but there are also examples of National Societies having observed needs but not being able to respond adequately, due to lack of resources or capacities. However, it should be noted that while aid and assistance are linked to both needs and resources, they are also connected to promotion/information. An increase in people receiving assistance is therefore not necessarily an expression of growing needs; it may be the result of increased funding or better information. Likewise, a reduction in services or in the number of people receiving help is not necessarily an expression of a decrease in needs.
A substantial percentage of National Societies report a growing number of people living below the poverty line and needing assistance, and also a rise in the intensity of poverty, whereby those who were already poor are now poorer, as well as a widening gap between the rich and the poor. This means that those living at the margins of mainstream society – and those who are socially excluded – have grown in their numbers and the distance to re-socialize, rehabilitate, find a job and re-join society has also increased.
Some National Societies also report the rise of a group of people living above the poverty line but still having difficulties to make ends meet (termed as ‘working poor’), who are becoming more vulnerable because of fiscal erosion – inflation rate (especially energy prices) rising more than salaries – or having jobs with no social security. Many of these people turn to the Red Cross Red Crescent occasionally or at the end of the month, facing the dilemma of buying food or paying bills, with the risk of being cut off if they do not or evicted if unable to pay rent or mortgages.
An additional source of vulnerability in a number of countries is the decrease in remittances and the related increased burden on the social welfare system due to the return of labour migrants who used to support their families by working abroad and were forced to return to their own country after losing their jobs. Not only do these migrants return to unemployment, they often have no social security either as they do not qualify for it. National Societies note that the number of requests from migrants has increased and they respond with support that ranges from legal advice to healthcare provision for undocumented migrants, to homework support for children.
Other vulnerable groups include those who have lost their job and who are not or no longer entitled to unemployment benefits, as well as single-parent families, pensioners, young people neither in education nor employment, and undocumented migrants.
The consequences of cuts in public health are severely felt with an increasing number of people coming to Red Cross or Red Crescent clinics and social centres for treatment and financial assistance to buy medicines. Likewise the numbers of people with mental health problems and people in need of psychosocial support are on the increase. Many National Societies remark that the economic crisis is creating the conditions for a widespread social crisis, whereby a growing gap in the distribution of resources (the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer) and the competition for shrinking resources could bring about growing xenophobia, discrimination, social exclusion, as well as abuse and domestic problems.
Overall, many National Societies think that response mechanisms to address vulnerabilities at country level (including their own) are not fully geared to support the new vulnerabilities surfacing as a consequence of the crisis nor the existing ones, as social benefits are cut or need to be shared among more people. A number of National Societies have gone or are going through a process of adaptation and reprioritization, with others mentioning the crisis as a platform to consider and discuss their auxiliary role to public authorities in the humanitarian field to play an even more vital role in bridging the existing gap between actual needs and national protection systems.
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