Weekly Update #12
May 2

Impacts on health care

The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that immediate steps are needed to prevent a measles outbreak due to the ongoing hostilities and low vaccination rates. It said that 85 per cent of eligible children in Ukraine received their first dose of measles vaccine in 2020 – which, while a significant improvement compared to the low of 42 per cent in 2016, is still below the recommended 95 per cent or higher each year to achieve and maintain herd immunity and protect the population. With first the COVID-19 pandemic and now the ongoing war leading to severe disruptions to the Ukrainian health system, including routine immunizations, WHO is seriously concerned about a potential measles outbreak, which could have devastating health consequences. WHO said immunization gaps among Ukrainian children, adolescents and adults led to measles outbreaks in 2012 and then again from mid-2017 to the end of 2019, when Ukraine had the second-largest measles outbreak reported globally. WHO said, despite the challenges, it is continuing to work with the Ukrainian Ministry of Health to provide COVID-19 vaccinations as well as routine vaccinations of children for a range of diseases, including measles, rubella, diphtheria and polio – and including of internally displaced children in 10 oblasts across the country.

Attacks on health care (including those against health facilities, transport, personnel, patients, supplies and warehouses) continue, with 11 new attacks between 28 April and 4 May. Cumulatively, between 23 February and 4 May there have been 186 attacks reported, resulting in 52 injuries and 73 deaths reported. These attacks deprive people of urgently needed care, endanger health-care providers, and undermine health systems.

Due to the severe disruption to the Ukrainian health system, including routine immunization activities, there are serious concerns about possible infectious disease outbreaks, including measles outbreaks. Outbreaks of measles were reported in 2012 and from mid-2017 to late 2019, when Ukraine experienced one of the largest reported measles outbreaks in the world.

Impact on human rights.

In a report published last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) encouraged the United Nations Security Council members to use a 27 April meeting on accountability for serious crimes in Ukraine to highlight the importance of impartial justice and coordination of a wide range of international accountability efforts. HRW described how, since 24 February, the military offensive has involved the bombardment of Ukrainian towns and cities, the killing and injuring of thousands of civilians, indiscriminate attacks impacting residential buildings as well as schools and hospitals, and alleged war crimes, including summary executions, torture and rape. The informal Security Council meeting on 27 April was convened by Albania and France, and it involved the participation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Karim Khan. HRW argued that the Member States of the Security Council, and High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, should voice support for further action by UN bodies like the Human Rights Council and General Assembly, as well as for the ICC and human rights organizations gathering evidence of war crimes. HRW also contended that it is important to remember that international justice is not limited to the war in Ukraine – but rather that the support for accountability efforts for Ukraine should become a paradigm for the international community’s response to crises and conflicts elsewhere in the world.

Impact on nuclear safety

The International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA), following the visit by Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi to the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) (Kyivska oblast, north) and Kyiv, on 28 April, published a report summarizing the situation in Ukraine regarding the safety, security and safeguards of its nuclear facilities as well as activities involving radioactive sources. The report describes the current situation as unprecedented – the first time a military conflict has occurred amid the facilities of a large established nuclear power programme, which in this case also includes the site of the 1986 accident at the Chornobyl NPP. IAEA reported that staff at all of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities have had to show endurance and resilience in keeping the sites running in a safe and secure way. All nuclear facilities, including four operational NPPs – Khmelnytskyi (Khmelnytska oblast, west), Rivne (Rivnenska oblast, north-west), South Ukraine (Mykolaivska oblast, south) and Zaporizhzhia – have continued operations. The radiation levels have remained within normal range and no radioactive releases have occurred that may impact the staff at the plants, the public or the environment. IAEA said, however, that efforts are needed to restore safe and secure management of nuclear facilities at the Chornobyl NPP site and to better characterize the current radiological situation within the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. And IAEA reported that “the situation at Zaporizhzhia NPP continues to be challenging and requires continued attention owing to the presence of the Russian Federation forces and Rosatom personnel at the site while operational management remains with Ukrainian plant operators.” Director General Grossi has proposed to lead a visit to the Zaporizhzhia NPP. Among its other conclusions, IAEA reported that it had not found any indication of the diversion of declared nuclear material or any indication that would give rise to a proliferation concern. At the same time, IAEA said it would continue to closely monitor developments in Ukraine.

Impact on fuel and utilities

US-based data and analytics company Premise issued a report on 28 April focused on the declining availability of fuel and utilities in Ukraine because of the ongoing hostilities. Premise reported that its findings suggest access to fuel is decreasing across the country and that, at many stations not yet completely out of fuel, certain types of fuel are unavailable. Its crowdsourced data shows that wait times are increasing – that 60 per cent of contributors reported wait times of 30 minutes or more and that 63 per cent of contributors reported having to visit multiple gas stations to find fuel. Premise remarked that the results are also critical to humanitarian activities, considering that fuel availability is essential for transporting goods around Ukraine and that it further impacts people’s ability to move to areas further from active fighting. Premise noted in particular that, while eastern oblasts are experiencing the most volatility with fuel access and availability, fuel shortages have become widespread across all of Ukraine. Similarly, utility outages, including water, telecommunications, and electricity, are also becoming more chronic, especially in the central and eastern oblasts.

Impact on women and children

The war in Ukraine continues to have unprecedented impacts on the lives of families and children. Since 24 February, at least 227 children have been killed and 322 have been injured.2 The situation is particularly dire in parts of eastern and southern Ukraine where active fighting and attacks continue adversely impacting the civilian population and civilian infrastructure. Also, sporadic/occasional strikes have been reported in western Ukraine. Of special concern is the situation in Mariupol where joint efforts between the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross have allowed successful evacuations of civilians. Nevertheless, many more remain in the cut-off city, living in extremely precarious conditions. Schools and kindergartens, which should provide a safe space for children, have not been spared from the destruction. At least one in every six UNICEF-supported schools in eastern Ukraine has been damaged or destroyed since the start of the war.

As revealed by the latest Rapid Gender Analysis, the multisectoral impact of the crisis in Ukraine is affecting women disproportionally. Women constitute the majority of those displaced and face significantly increased safety and protection risks. Incidents of gender-based violence, particularly domestic violence and conflict-related sexual violence, are reportedly increasing, but services for survivors are not provided in full. Protection, physical health, mental health care, and safe shelter have been identified as priority needs for women interviewed by the study.

As of 5 May, the UN and humanitarian partners have reached over 5.4 million people across Ukraine, with the majority of people reached residing in eastern Kharkivska (1.3 million), northern Kyivska (479,100) and western Lvivska (365,700) oblasts. Over 4.7 million people have received food, security and livelihoods assistance and nearly 1.5 million have benefitted from health interventions or supplies provided by humanitarian partners.

Protection

Over 125,00 people have received targeted protection assistance at border crossing points, online and in locations where people have fled. This includes protection counselling and services, including psychosocial support and legal aid.

The overall figure includes over 54,000 people who received protection information, support orcounselling; more than 40,300 people who received information and counselling through hotlines; over 12,200 people who received legal counselling or assistance; over 11,000 people who received psychosocial support or psychological first aid; more than 4,500 who received social support. This is in addition to some 1,400 protection monitoring missions.

In Chernivtsi city, a UNHCR partner visited a psychiatric clinic accommodating 82 patients evacuated from Popasna, a city in Luhansk oblast in eastern Ukraine, and is working with the institution to restore identity documents and resolve issues with social payments.

UNHCR and partner Rokada will provide protection services and psychosocial support to some 450 IDP children from orphanages in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Zhytomyr oblasts who are currently staying in Khmelnytskyi Oblast.

UNHCR has also provided similar protection programs for refugee-receiving countries. These have included:

Hungary

UNHCR and partners have provided information,counselling, psychosocial support and protectionreferrals to 6,322 refugees, including more than1,500 people in the past week. Of those receiving support, some 60% were women,8% children and 2% older men. Approximately 70% were suffering from psychological distress and werereferred for additional psychosocial support. UNHCR has observed an increasing number of older people arriving at Zahony train station.

UNHCR continues visiting shelters across thecountry to identify persons residing there who need assistance in facilitating their registration with the National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing (NDGAP) and access to services. UNHCR is following up on multiple cases in this regard and is organizing transportation to NDGAP offices and government offices with the assistance of its partner HHC.

In addition to existing partnership agreements, UNHCR has established a new partnership with Hungarian Baptist Aid to expand the capacity and reach of various protection and integration activities. Several more partnerships will be established in the coming weeks, including with Ukrainian refugee-led organisations.

UNHCR is enhancing protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) through the vetting and registration of volunteers. PSEA trainings were conducted and a Code of Conduct established for volunteers last week. The PSEA Task Force is developing an Interagency Complaints Referral System.

Moldova

The Referrals Pathways Task Force has published a comprehensive Emergency Inter-Agency Referrals Package. The package provides guiding principles and procedures to be followed when referring refugees from Ukraine for assistance and protection.

The package includes the national-level referralpathways for protection, gender-based violence, and child protection cases, and introduces the Inter- Agency referral form for Moldova together with the guiding principles for case management and a case management flowchart. UNHCR will organize trainings for service providers to enable them to use the kits and form.

There are currently six Blue Dots operational in Moldova. Some 5,614 people (more than 50 per cent children) received support provided by UNHCR, UNICEF and partners at Blue Dot centres.

In April, a Field Unit was created at Palanca border crossing point with Ukraine to enable closer monitoring of the site. Security systems are also being installed and

security guards positioned to enable UNHCR and partners to implement a controlled entry procedure at the station to mitigate protection risks by preventing unauthorized access.

Comprehensive GBV referral pathways have been developed, shared and continue to be updated based on service mapping for all regions. To date 212 frontline partner, government and NGO staff have been trained on GBV safe disclosure and referral to operationalize the referral pathways and increase access to support. Further orientation is planned for all sectors to promote GBV mainstreaming across the response. Training materials have been adapted to the context, translated and shared with the GBV Sub Working Group (SWG) to increase access to adapted GBV training tools. The GBV SWG is co-led by UNHCR and UNFPA and includes some 45 members who meet on

a weekly basis.

UNHCR partners Law Center of Advocates (LCA), ACTED, and INTERSOS are stationed at border crossing points and refugee accommodation centres to provide transportation, protection monitoring,vulnerability screening and counselling. LCA also operates a legal help desk for refugees at MoldExpo. UNHCR intends to open additional legal help desks at key refugee accommodation centres. In the first quarter, some 10,000 people have received support.

Poland

There are currently 5 Blue Dots operating in Poland, including at the UNHCR cash enrolment centres in Warsaw and Krakow, at the Tesco reception centre in Przemyśl and ‘Light’ Blue Dot points at the Medyka Border Crossing Point and Korczowa. UNHCR Protection staff specialised in Blue Dots arrived to support the establishment of additional Blue Dots across the country. Additional Blue Dots are currently being set up jointly with the cash enrolment centres in Poznan, Gdansk, and Gdynia.

A total of 4,521 individuals (2,056 families) have been counselled through the Blue Dots from 23 March to 2 May. Protection teams provided 2,300 interventions and over 1,100 referrals. Most interventions included the provision of information and mental health and psychosocial support. Most referrals were to protection/ social services, medical and mental health services. UNHCR also conducts remote counselling for refugees by phone and email and responds to queries mainly about cash assistance.

On 2 May, UNHCR trained 31 volunteers at the Tesco Przemysl reception centre on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), as well as GBV and Child Protection referrals. Further training of Blue Dot staff was carried out in Krakow on legal questions arising at the Blue Dot, including best interest assessments and referral pathways in health. UNHCR also proposed to conduct PSEA trainings for Polish military personnel.

On 28 April, UNHCR and UNICEF met with several highlevel representatives of the Polish Ministries of Interior, Health, Education, Labour, Family and Social Policy andDigitization to discuss potential support for national vaccination programmes, inclusion of refugee children in schools, as well as Polish language classes, vocational training and access to the labor market, as well as child protection.

Romania

UNHCR continues to provide in-person protection information and counselling as well as through hotlines. To date, over 13,700 people have received protection support and information in person or remotely through helplines. Information requested focused on accommodation, transportation, medical services, school enrolment support, job opportunities and temporary protection.

There are currently three Blue Dots operational in Romania including in Sighet, Siret and at Isaccea border crossing point. UNHCR and UNICEF, in collaboration with the Government, are expanding the services and the child friendly space available at the Isaccea border crossing point Blue Dot.

Slovakia

Two Blue Dots have been set up at a registration centre at Bottova in Bratislava, and in Gabčíkovo. Further approval has been secured from the Vice President of the Police to set up Blue Dots at additional registration centres including in Kosice, Humenné, Michalovce and Nitra.

Within the purview of the Child Protection Sub Working Group, UNHCR has taken the lead on consolidatingexisting service mappings and directories at thelocal level to develop a service mapping and definereferral pathways.

UNHCR and partners conducted a GBV training focusing on specific risks, the role of border police in the GBV response, GBV disclosures and safe referrals for 240 police and frontline authorities operating at border crossing points in eastern Slovakia.

In Bratislava, UNICEF and UNHCR have agreed to develop a joint child protection capacity building plan for implementing partners and other stakeholders in child protection, inclusion and education. Colleaguesreport improved set-up for the identification of unaccompanied and separated children at border points.

EDUCATION

Schools in 3 out of 14 regions of Ukraine have organized the learning process in distance, blended, and face-to-face formats. In other regions, schools either resumed the distance learning format or suspended classes. As of 21 April, around 3.7 million students had resumed their studies in Ukrainian schools. Around 87,000 displaced children have registered at schools in host communities, 27 per cent of them in Lviv oblast (23,554). Kindergartens in 15 regions continue working in distance, blended, or face-to-face formats. In other regions, kindergartens remain closed due to the security situation. More than 1,500 displaced children have registered at kindergartens in host communities.

Since 24 February, 265,900 children have benefited from learning interventions with supplies provided by UNICEF, and more than 66,000 children have been engaged in formal or non-formal education. During the reporting period, UNICEF distributed early childhood development (ECD) kits, recreation kits, and school-in-a-carton kits, benefitting at least 12,262 children in Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk and Dnipro oblasts

While pre-school facilities in Kyiv have not yet opened and all schools operate in distance learning modality, 150 volunteers were engaged to run socio-emotional and learning activities in several locations in Kyiv, with 100 children (aged 3–17) participating in these activities during the reporting period and more are expected to be reached by the engaged volunteers over the coming weeks.

Since March, UNICEF and partners have conducted activities in child-friendly spaces for children in Kharkiv, with a total of 8,058 children reached in Kharkiv metro stations and bomb shelters

During the reporting period, UNICEF supported 106 volunteers (44 male, 62 female) within the national platform ‘Spivdiia’ with safe space and transportation, meals, hygiene, and materials. Since 8 March, young volunteers have provided humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations in Kyiv and Kyiv oblasts, reaching over 6,500 people with disabilities, families with children, the elderly, young people in conflict with law and other groups. Furthermore, working with a local volunteering organization, 110,000 young volunteers support vulnerable people across Ukraine with humanitarian response, preparedness, and building back better initiatives; volunteers provided learning opportunities to 230 children (including 140 adolescents) and PSS to 32 children. They also delivered first aid kits to bomb shelters and collective centres.

Through the network of Spilno: Meeting Points, 7 focused on adolescents, UNICEF and partners trained 89 educators and volunteers to conduct socio-emotional learning activities for 3,314 children. The Spilno: Meeting Points are functioning in Kharkiv metro and bomb shelters, Poltava oblast (Poltva, Kremenchuk, Svitlovodsk), Kropyvnytskyi, and Kharkiv. Early childhood development (ECD) kits and hygiene kits were distributed in the Meeting Points for 1,918 children. In addition, 1,099 children, including 491 boys and 608 girls, benefitted from UNICEF-supported early learning activities at Spilno Spots in Lviv, Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts. Teachers at Spilno Spots are trained on PSS, learning-through-play activities, and mine risk education. UNICEF provided 31 ECD kits, 32 recreation kits, and 18 school-in-a-box kits, benefitting more than 4,500 children in Ivano-Frankivsk o blast.

Link: MALTESER INTERNATIONAL 2022-5-4_Comprehensive Report on Situation in Ukraine Order of Malta

Since 24 February, Caritas Internationalis and the Caritas Confederation continue to work tirelessly to support vulnerable persons and communities whose lives have been devastated as a result of the ongoing conflict and unrest within Ukraine.

Together, Caritas Ukraine and Caritas-Spes Ukraine have assisted nearly 900,000 people who are victims of the ongoing political unrest in the region. Since the beginning of the conflict Caritas Ukraine have assisted no less than 593,000 persons by providing: housing and shelter in local Caritas offices; food to over 270,000 people; the distribution of 128,774 hygiene kits; and more than 939 tonnes of humanitarian supplies. Meanwhile Caritas-Spes has assisted 303,981 people since February 24: 88,536 people have been provided with shelter and accommodation; 37,548 people have received support, protection and childcare assistance; and 145,154 people have received water, hygiene items and detergents through their WASH programme.

According to the UNHCR, over 12 million people have been displaced since late February. Within Ukraine at least 7.1 million people are internally displaced while more than 4.9 million people have crossed international borders seeking refuge after the destruction of their homes, towns and cities.

In Poland, the diocesan Caritas network took immediate action to help provide assistance to refugees crossing the border from Ukraine. Over 2.8 million refugees have entered the country from Ukraine since the outbreak of war and Caritas centres have provided: shelter to nearly 8,300 families and another 37,000 refugees have been given shelter in private homes; and 1.5 million meals to over 537,000 people.

Caritas Romania is working with other Confederation members to meet the needs of refugees in the country. Through its diocesan network, Caritas Romania provides: shelter, food and non-food items, medicines, vouchers, counselling, safeguarding and protection support, and capacity building for staff and volunteers.

Caritas Bulgaria, through its diocesan and parish structures and the local Catholic Church, has supported nearly 2,000 refugees from Ukraine and are concentrating its efforts to meet the basic accommodation, food, non-food and social support needs of refugees in the country.

In Moldova, Caritas recently opened a refugee placement centre to better respond to the changing and growing needs of refugees from Ukraine. Since the outbreak of war, Caritas Moldova have assisted refugees through: financial assistance, immediate humanitarian aid, psychosocial support, hot food, accommodation, medical care, education, hygiene kits, technology support, and cash assistance.

In the Czech Republic, where an estimated 350,000 refugees have arrived since February, the national Caritas has established network of Regional Centres for Help and Assistance to Ukraine to provide relief aid, accommodation and assistance to refugees. In addition, Caritas facilitates integration of refugees into Czech society by providing support to integrate children into schools and helping refugees to contact public services and enter the labour market.