{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2006-1905/article-5",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2006-1905/article-5.json",
  "legislation": "eur/2006/1905",
  "legislation_title": "Regulation (EC) No 1905/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 establishing a financing instrument for development cooperation",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2006-1905",
  "path": "article/5",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "5",
  "heading": "Geographic programmes",
  "text": "1. A geographic programme shall encompass cooperation in appropriate areas of activity with partner countries and regions determined on a geographical basis.\n2. Consistently with the overall purpose and scope, objectives and general principles of this Regulation, Community assistance to the countries of Latin America, Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East as set out in Annex I, as well as South Africa, shall include actions within the following areas of cooperation:\n(a) supporting the implementation of policies aimed at poverty eradication and at the achievement of the MDGs;\nHuman development:\n(b) addressing the essential needs of the population with prime attention to primary education and health, in particular by:\nHealth:\n(i) increasing access to and provision of health services for lower income population groups and marginalised groups, including women and children, persons belonging to groups subject to ethnic, religious or any other discrimination and persons with disabilities, with a central focus on the related MDGs, namely reducing child mortality, improving maternal and child health and sexual and reproductive health and rights as set out in the Cairo Agenda of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), addressing poverty diseases, in particular HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria;\n(ii) strengthening health systems in order to prevent human resource crises in the health sector;\n(iii) enhancing capacities particularly in areas such as public health and research and development;\nEducation:\n(iv) giving priority in primary education to achieving quality primary education followed by vocational training and to reduce inequalities in terms of access to education; promoting compulsory and free education up to the age of 15 to combat all forms of child labour;\n(v) aiming at achieving universal primary education by 2015, and at eliminating gender disparity in education;\n(vi) promoting vocational training, higher education, life-long learning, cultural, scientific and technological cooperation, academic and cultural exchanges as well as enhancing mutual understanding between partner countries and regions and the Community;\nSocial cohesion and employment:\n(c) promoting social cohesion as a priority policy of the relations between the Community and partner countries, with a focus on decent work and social and fiscal policies, thereby fighting against poverty, inequality, unemployment and exclusion of vulnerable and marginalised groups;\n(d) combating all forms of group-based discrimination and promoting and protecting gender equality, indigenous peoples' rights and the rights of the child, including supporting implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and actions to address the problems faced by street children and children undertaking forms of labour that are hazardous and/or hinder full-time education;\n(e) strengthening the institutional framework to promote and facilitate the creation of small and medium sized enterprises with a view to stimulating job creation;\nGovernance, democracy, human rights and support for institutional reforms:\n(f) promoting and protecting fundamental freedoms and human rights, strengthening democracy, the rule of law, access to justice and good governance including actions to combat corruption, which may include, but are not limited to, capacity building and strengthening the institutional and legislative framework, particularly in the areas of national administration, design and implementation of policies and management of public finances and national resources in a transparent way;\n(g) supporting an active civil society, including civil society organisations representing people living in poverty, as well as promoting civic dialogue, participation and reconciliation, and institution-building;\n(h) fostering cooperation and policy reform in the fields of security and justice, especially as regards asylum and migration, the fight against drugs and other trafficking including trafficking in human beings, corruption and money laundering;\n(i) fostering cooperation and policy reform in the field of migration and asylum with partner countries and promoting capacity building initiatives to ensure the formulation and implementation of pro-development migration policies to address the root causes of migration;\n(j) supporting effective multilateralism, in particular through compliance with, and the effective implementation of, international law and multilateral agreements relevant to the field of development;\nTrade and regional integration:\n(k) assisting partner countries and regions on trade, investment and regional integration including technical assistance and capacity building to design and implement sound trade policies, favouring a more conducive business environment, sound economic and financial policies and private sector development, with a view to partner countries and regions benefiting from their integration into the world economy and to supporting social justice and pro-poor growth;\n(l) supporting accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and implementation of WTO agreements by technical assistance and capacity building, in particular the implementation of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (the TRIPS Agreement), notably in the area of public health;\n(m) supporting economic and trade cooperation and strengthening investment relations between the Community and partner countries and regions, including by actions to promote and ensure that private actors, including local and European businesses, contribute to socially responsible and sustainable economic development, including respect for the core labour standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and by actions to promote local capacity building;\nEnvironment and sustainable development of natural resources:\n(n) promoting sustainable development through environmental protection and sustainable management of natural resources, including protection of biodiversity, and of forests, including activities for the conservation and sustainable management of forests with active participation of local communities and forest-dependent peoples;\n(o) supporting improvements in the urban environment;\n(p) promoting sustainable patterns of production and consumption and the safe and sustainable management of chemicals and waste, taking into account their impacts on health;\n(q) ensuring respect for and supporting the implementation of international environment agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in line with the EU Action Plan on Climate Change, and their protocols and any subsequent modifications;\n(r) developing capacities for emergency preparedness and prevention of natural disasters;\nWater and energy:\n(s) supporting sustainable integrated water resource management, with particular emphasis on universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation in line with the MDGs and sustainable and efficient use of water resources, including for agricultural and industrial purposes;\n(t) fostering greater use of sustainable energy technologies;\nInfrastructure, communication and transport:\n(u) contributing to the development of economic infrastructure, including support to regional integration, and promoting the increased use of information and communication technologies;\nRural development, territorial planning, agriculture and food security:\n(v) supporting sustainable rural development, including decentralisation and empowerment, particularly with a view to ensuring food security;\nPost-crisis situations and fragile States:\n(w) reconstructing and rehabilitating, in the medium- and long-term, regions and countries affected by conflict, man-made and natural disasters, including support for mine-action, demobilisation and reintegration actions, while ensuring the continuum between relief, rehabilitation and development in accordance with Article 2(6), bearing in mind the competences of the Community and its Member States;\n(x) carrying out medium- and long-term activities aimed at the self-sufficiency and integration or reintegration of uprooted people, ensuring that an integrated and consistent approach between humanitarian aid, rehabilitation, aid to uprooted people and development cooperation is pursued. Community action shall facilitate the move from the emergency stage to that of development, encouraging the socio-economic integration or reintegration of the people affected, and encourage the establishment or strengthening of democratic structures and the role of the population in the development process;\n(y) in fragile or failing States, supporting the delivery of basic services and building of legitimate, effective and resilient public institutions;\n(z) addressing development challenges common to the Community and its partners, in particular support to sectoral dialogues, to the implementation of bilateral agreements and to any other area of action consistent with the scope of this Regulation.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2006/1905/article/5",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-01T14:53:14.149018+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}