WUNRN
UKRAINE – CONTINUING CONFLICT – WINTER CHALLENGES – LEST
WE FORGET THE CRISIS IMPACTS FOR DISPLACED UKRANIAN WOMEN
IDMC – Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre - http://www.internal-displacement.org/europe-the-caucasus-and-central-asia/ukraine/figures-analysis
IDMC estimates that there are at least 514,000 IDPs in Ukraine as of December 2014 – Click above link for full article. __________________________________________________________________________ |
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https://www.google.it/search?q=Photos+of+Displaced+Ukrainian+WOMEN&biw=1301&bih=641&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=tXGHVK3wNcPVPdK1gOgP&ved=0CEMQ7Ak
A
woman collects aid items at a distribution centre in Nikolayevka, eastern
Ukraine. © UNHCR/E.Zivatdinova
http://www.unhcr.org/548190aa9.html
Ukraine Conflict Uproots Hundreds of Thousands
GENEVA, December 5, 2014 - (UNHCR) –The
UN refugee agency reported on Friday that fighting in eastern Ukraine this year
has forced more than half-a-million people to flee their homes and find shelter
elsewhere in the country, while hundreds of thousands have fled to Russia and
other neighbouring states.
UNHCR spokesman William Spindler, citing Ukrainian State
Emergency Service figures, said some 514,000 people had been internally
displaced by the conflict as of the beginning of December. Ukrainians are also
seeking international protection, with some 233,000 applying for refugee status
or temporary asylum in the Russian Federation, according to Russia's Federal
Migration Service.
"Applications for asylum by Ukrainian citizens have also
risen in the European Union [EU] this year," Spindler told journalists in
Geneva. As of the end of October, 8,936 Ukrainians had asked for international
protection in the EU, a tenfold increase from the 885 asylum applications for
the whole of 2013. The EU country receiving the largest number of Ukrainian
asylum seekers so far this year was Poland (1,826) followed by Germany (1,622),
France (1,076) and Sweden (840).
"The number of Ukrainians fleeing abroad could be
considerable higher than the number of asylum seekers, however, as many
Ukrainians prefer to apply for other forms of legal stay such as temporary or
permanent residence permits in other countries," Spindler added.
So far this year, more than 317,000 Ukrainians have applied for
such permits in Russia (222,000), Belarus (60,000), Poland (23,000) and other
neighbouring countries. It is not clear, however, if all of these people left
Ukraine because of the conflict or for other reasons.
In Ukraine, most internally displaced people (IDP) remain in
regions close to the conflict, including the eastern city of Kharkiv (118,000)
and government-controlled territories in Donetsk and Luhansk as well as in the
Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Most IDPs are women, children, older
people and those living with disability.
Meanwhile, UNHCR's Spindler noted that the Ukraine government
last month adopted a resolution which provides for the transfer of state-run
institutions and social payments from the regions not currently under
government control to government-controlled areas.
"UNHCR is concerned that this provision will have
unintended negative effects such as increasing internal displacement, as people
are forced to move from areas not controlled by the Ukrainian government in
order to receive their pensions and social benefits, while causing serious
hardship to those unable or unwilling to leave their homes," he said.
"Although UNHCR has no first-hand information about
conditions in areas not under government control, there are strong indications
that the civilian population in these areas is facing considerable hardship. We
are seriously concerned about a deepening humanitarian crisis in these
areas," he added.
With the onset of winter, UNHCR continues to work to improve the
conditions of some of the most vulnerable displaced people. Following pilot
projects in the Kyiv, Lviv and Vinnitsa regions, UNHCR is extending its
one-time cash assistance programmes for vulnerable IDP families to 11 other
regions.
An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 IDPs are currently accommodated in
collective centres, including some of the most vulnerable individuals and
families. The rehabilitation of collective centres in Kharkiv, Luhansk,
Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions is under way.
Since needs are greatest near the conflict areas, UNHCR and its
partner, People in Need, are planning to repair and make ready for the winter a
further 12 collective centres in the northern Donetsk and Kharkiv regions. This
brings the total number of premises under different stages of refurbishment to
47. At the same time, the distribution of plastic sheeting began in Luhansk and
southern Donetsk to assist some 5,500 people with emergency home repairs.
In Russia, UNHCR undertook monitoring missions in late October
to Vladivostok and Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East, and to Irkutsk in
eastern Siberia, in order to observe the reception conditions and integration
options for Ukrainians arriving in these areas.
The majority of the refugees and people with temporary asylum
status arrive through the centralized relocation system and stay mostly in
Temporary Accommodation Centres (TACs) which have been set up in the
dormitories of colleges and universities, children's holiday camps and
sanatoria.
"While the TACs that the UNHCR teams visited were well
equipped for winter conditions and had adequate schooling and medical
facilities, UNHCR has received information that reception conditions for other
refugees are less satisfactory. Ukrainian refugees also report restrictions to
moving to other cities. UNHCR is advocating for refugees to be integrated or
provided assistance to return on a voluntary basis whenever they want to
return," Spindler said.