Weekly Update #1
March 9-11

TOPIC: Comprehensive Response to Ukrainian Refugee Emergency

Source: https://reporting.unhcr.org/ukraine-situation-rrp-summary

Objectives

To respond to the most pressing needs of refugees, UNHCR is scaling up its core protection activities (advocacy for access to asylum/territory and fair and fast border procedures; legal assistance; child protection, family tracing/reunification; assistance and advocacy for persons with specific needs) and coordination.

The overarching UNHCR response is the Regional Response Plan (RRP) which will support efforts of 12 partners (UN agencies, national and international non-governmental organizations and civil society) to protect and Ukrainian refugees. The initial funding resource from March to August 2022 totals US$ 550,649,000, which will aim to assist approximately 2.4 million refugees and asylum-seeks in neighboring countries. Four million refugees are estimated refugee population.

RRP partners will implement a multisectoral approach focusing on protection, reception/shelter and material and cash assistance. Objectives are to:

• Support host countries to ensure that every refugee from Ukraine has access to safety and international protection;

• Support host countries to provide timely and life-saving humanitarian assistance for refugees, and vulnerable third country nationals, with a specific focus on the most vulnerable;

• Facilitate the search for solutions for the refugees from Ukraine from the onset through a whole-of-society approach;

• Ensure effective coordination of partners at country and regional level in support of hosting countries’ efforts.

UNHCR and partners will focus on hard-to-reach areas close to the contact line and IDPs living in collective centers.

As humanitarian needs in non-government controlled areas, remain high, with few humanitarian organizations having access to and being able to deliver assistance there given the complex operational context, UNHCR will continue providing shelter and individual protection assistance including community support in non-government controlled areas (NGCA) as well as organizing logistics for humanitarian convoys on behalf of the Humanitarian Country Team.

Services

UNHCR will provide the most vulnerable with core-relief items (CRIs) and unrestricted cash assistance. In accordance with its mandate and in support of host country governments, UNHCR coordinates a Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP), bringing together UN, NGO and other relevant partners. The Plan primarily focuses on supporting the host country governments to ensure safe access to territory for refugees and third-country nationals fleeing from Ukraine, in line with international standards. It also focuses on the provision of critical protection services and humanitarian assistance, while displacement dynamics and needs continue to grow exponentially.

Concretely, services that will be provided include: emergency shelter assistance; access to al health and psychosocial support, WASH, and education and health services; immediate life-saving and logistics support; interpretation and transportation facilities at border points. Special attention will be given to survivors of violence, unaccompanied or separated children, older persons, single women and female-headed households. They will be supported through one-stop shops/information and referral centres and referrals and to key services such as legal aid, family reunification and alternative care.

Financial resources

An initial funding estimate from March to August is US$ 550, 649, to be divided among 6 countries (Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and other countries. Funding allocation among implementing UN and civil society partners are identified, with UNHCR and IOM accounting for almost 50%.

OCHA

Daily Noon Briefing Highlights – 10 March 2022

Ukraine

The humanitarian situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate at an alarming pace. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), between 24 February and 9 March at the end of the day, 1,506 civilian casualties were recorded and this includes 549 people killed, 41 of them children. The real figure could rise considerably as reported casualties are confirmed.

Estimated 1.9 million have been internally displaced and more than 2.3 million people have crossed international borders out of Ukraine, according to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR. Three things are critical in the short term, as Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths has stressed: civilians, whether they stay or leave, must be respected and protected; safe passage is needed for humanitarian supplies; and we need a system of constant communication with parties to the conflict.

In terms of response, humanitarian organizations are deploying additional staff across the country and are working to move supplies to warehouses in different hubs including in to serve people in need.

So far more than 500,000 people are being reached by UN and partners with some form of humanitarian assistance in Ukraine, including life-saving food, shelter, blankets, and medical supplies. If humanitarian access is secured, the UN and partners are set to reach much higher numbers given the scope and scale of the humanitarian operation being deployed. The UN Refugee Agency reports that by 9 March, it had delivered 85 metric tons of humanitarian assistance to reception and transit centres in Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, which is hosting people who have fled hostilities further east.

On funding, as of today donors have reported $109 million in funding for the Ukraine Flash Appeal 2022. That gives a coverage of 9.6 per cent. The appeal was launched by the Secretary-General on 1 March and requires US$1.1 billion for a three-month period for humanitarian response inside Ukraine. We encourage the donors who made generous pledges to release the money quickly and report their contribution to OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service.