Weekly Update #49
February 6

THE HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

Humanitarian aid in Ukraine 

• Yesterday, an inter-agency convoy comprised of five trucks delivered medication, materials for emergency shelter repairs, tool kits, hygiene items and solar lamps to the Zaporizhzhia region in the south-east of the country.

• The supplies are intended for people in the Huliaipole community, where around 3,000 people remain close to the front line. They are exposed to regular shelling, and their access to basic services is disrupted.

• Since March last year, the residents have had no electricity as the facilities were damaged by fighting and cannot be repaired due to ongoing hostilities. Because there is no power, water facilities cannot operate, and water has to be delivered in bottles or pumped from the wells. The tools for emergency repairs are urgently needed for the damaged homes in the harsh winter.

• The supplies are provided by the International Organization for Migration, UNICEF, the Office for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Health Organization. With support from local community representatives and volunteers, it is distributed directly to the people in need.

• This is the second convoy this week to reach communities in acute need on the frontlines after a first convoy reached Donetsk region on Tuesday 31 January.

• To enable access to primary healthcare (PHC) services and for people in conflict-affected areas, and those impacted by service disruptions, WHO is conducting  a  rapid  assessment in seven oblasts. Support has been requested to restore space for PH activities in damaged or non-functional structures by providing prefabricated modular units that will serve as PHC facilities.

• A pilot mobile COVID 19 vaccination team project has been launched in eight regions of Ukraine  (Odesa, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Vinnytsya Ternopil, Zhytomyr and Ivano Frankivsk). The COVID 19 pandemic continues, which means that the vaccination campaign is also ongoing to reduce the level of hospitalizations, severe complications and deaths due to a severe course of the disease. Many people, including those in high risk groups, still have not received the full course of the COVID 19 vaccine For some, this is due to difficulties in getting to vaccination centres .

• WFP delivered 9.4 mt of food for over 800 people in Soledar, as part of the UN inter-agency convoy. Soledar is a contested town in eastern Donetsk oblast where Ukrainian forces acknowledged a temporary controlled pullback, following some of the most intense fighting in recent weeks.

• Under the cash assistance program, WFP disbursed over USD 30 million in cash assistance to 506,000 people in need in January, to date. WFP cash assistance programs continue to serve the most vulnerable population affected by the armed conflict in areas where food is available in grocery stores, which promotes rehabilitation of local market conditions.

• In January, to date, WFP reached almost 1.5 million people through a combination of bread, rapid response rations, and General Food Distribution (GFD) comprising 30-day rations, Infant cereal and institutional feeding. Distribution of Infant cereal has resumed last month, following its routine food safety inspection. In-kind assistance is designed to serve people living in hard-to-reach areas, where markets are inaccessible due to the ongoing hostilities, damaged infrastructure, mine contamination, or limited power supply.

• On 22 January, as part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, WFP charted vessel MV Amira Hana left to ports of Djibouti, loaded with 30,000 mt of wheat for Ethiopia. To date, WFP charted vessels transported over 426,000 mt of wheat through various Black Sea ports supporting Ethiopia (39%), Afghanistan (25%), Yemen (23%), and Somalia (13%).

 Sources: OCHA Top News

WHO Ukraine emergency situation reports

WFP Situation report

Demining for Food Systems launched by WFP

Discussions on a joint demining project have moved forward between WFP, FAO, and Fondation Suisse de Deminage (FSD), as a crucial part of phasing out the need for humanitarian assistance for thousands of farmers.

Demining to restore food systems is another significant collaboration on the horizon to strengthen resilience of local and national food systems and economies. Discussions took place during the last two weeks between WFP, FAO and Fondation Suisse de Deminage (FSD) on revitalizing local livelihoods in deconflicted areas through land clearance including demining for small-sized farmers and local producers.

Aimed at helping phase out the need for humanitarian relief for thousands of farmers, the project is based on a three-phased approach. The first phase is targeting and transparent prioritization of farmers with a focus on small-size farmers regaining their livelihoods. The second phase is demining work consisting of non-technical assessments, unexploded ordnance (UXO) and mine clearance and post clearance soil-assessments. The final step is land rehabilitation, where FAO will provide seeds, machinery or access to credit and WFP could link farmers to WFP’s procurement.

Source: WHO Ukraine emergency situation reports

Voices from the Field: Mitigating the impact of the war on children:

An estimated 5 million children are displaced inside and outside Ukraine, since the start of the war in 24 February 2022. All these children are at heightened risk of physical harm severe emotional distress and displacement. Without comprehensive action children are at potential risk of separation from their families or primary care givers, gravely neglected if disabled and left in residential institutions that lack essential services and care. For those living in conflict areas, the consequences are even more dire.

Two field-based reports highlight the importance of prioritizing the needs of vulnerable children in the responses.

In its recently released report, Impact of War on Ukraine’s Children, A Child Protection Report,  the World Vision, a Christian non-profit organization outlines the impact of the conflict on the children and actions that must be taken to mitigate its consequences in the short and longer term.

The report describes how the most vulnerable of children are affected.  These include children caught in the crosshair of the conflict,  unaccompanied children, children in institutional care, and children who are trafficked.  Already experiencing challenging circumstances, the vulnerabilities of these children are heightened due to the consequences of the conflict.  A faltering health care system, irregular education, food shortages, and frequent energy outages inflict deeper trauma among these children. 

In addition, they are targets for sexual exploitation and trafficking, and regular social protection mechanisms are inadequate to provide even basic survival and care services to these children.

The report outlines calls to action that include easy asylum procedures for children, greater numbers of safe spaces and shelters, coordinated registration systems across borders as children move, and children-specific helplines in all host countries.

More effective implementation of  the Temporary Protection scheme in host countries is essential. The

Temporary Protection scheme gives refugees a legal status, and provides children access to education, healthcare and child protection services. The system also gives their parents or caregivers permission to work, making them less likely to adopt negative coping measures.

The focus on children is an ongoing priority concern among humanitarian organizations. In a separate Needs Assessment carried out by an alliance of three humanitarian organizations headed by War Child of displaced Ukrainians in five oblasts, key informants voiced out the concerns of children and women.  Their key findings included:

• 85% of household heads were women, who were not more than 40 years of age.

• Two-thirds of households received humanitarian assistance over a period of 2 months.

• Psychosocial support was considered essential need by respondents in all locations, but knowledge on how to access these services was very low, especially in Suny, Kyiv, and Chernihiv.

• Households would cut expenditures on health and education for basic survival needs, thus impacting on the well-being of children.

As the war stretches out, integrating long-term actions focusing on protection of women and children to mitigate their vulnerabilities to the conflict is recognized as a priority that should be in complementarity with providing for basic needs.

WHO report on Ukraine sparks off US-Russia debate

The United States and Russia faced off on Saturday over a World Health Organization report on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, with Moscow saying it was politically motivated and Washington calling for it to be swiftly updated.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus's report was presented to the organization’s executive board, on which both Russia and the United States sit. It covered events in the first nine months of 2022 and classed the situation in Ukraine, which Russia invaded on Feb. 24, as one of eight acute global health emergencies.

The report documented more than 14,000 civilian casualties, with 17.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and 7.5 million Ukrainian refugees displaced across Europe. Of 471 attacks with heavy weapons on healthcare facilities globally, 448 occurred in Ukraine, the WHO report said.

Russia's representative to the WHO board called it politicized and one-sided and described its references to Ukraine as unfounded accusations.

Moscow denied targeting civilians in Ukraine since it began what it calls a special military operation, which has also devastated Ukraine's cities, killed thousands of combatants and shaken the global economy.

Sheba Crocker, U.S. representative to the United Nations, called for an updated report to document incidents in Ukraine since September. "Russia's attacks ... have caused unspeakable harm to civilians and critical infrastructure in Ukraine," she told the board meeting, according to a statement from her office.

The WHO report that triggered this exchange can be found in the link below.

Sources: REUTERS: WHO report on Ukraine health emergency sparks U.S., Russia row

WHO

Religious Leaders call for increased support for refugees and host communities

On 31 January 2023, leaders of different faith traditions, including representatives from the Multi-Religious Council of Leaders, gathered in Chisinau, Moldova to call for people of all religions worldwide to increase much-needed support to refugees and host communities.

"The Moldovan community and faith-based organisations were among the first ones to welcome us, counsel us, and help us find a place to stay," said Dmitrii Lekartsev, a refugee from Ukraine, who opened the roundtable discussion on peace and solidarity hosted by the Prime Minister of Moldova. 

Religious leaders visited refugee and community centres in Chisinau that have been critical to ensuring protection and access to services upon reception and admission of Ukrainian refugees – including children – on their journey to safety. 

Religious communities have a long history of assisting those fleeing war, poverty, and persecution. The Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) recognizes the contributions and long-standing experience of religious leaders in supporting refugees, and faith-based organizations have made 27 pledges related to the GCR since 2019, all of which are either fulfilled or in progress.

Sources: UNHCR Religious Leaders call for increased support for refugees and host communities

High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi commends Italy on its commitment to protect and find solutions for refugees

High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi commends Italy on its commitment to protect and find solutions for refugees

Concluding a constructive two-day visit to Italy, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi welcomed reassurances from the Italian government that the country will deliver on its commitment to protect and find lasting solutions for refugees in a context of constant migratory pressure at sea and land borders.

Grandi supported Italy’s call for greater solidarity and responsibility-sharing among European countries for people arriving in Italy by sea seeking protection from violence and persecution.

The close collaboration between the UNHCR and the Holy See, also in the spirit of the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, was reaffirmed during the meeting with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin. The High Commissioner was received in private audience by Pope Francis, shortly after the departure of the Holy Father for the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

“The voice of the Holy Father is essential in creating awareness and highlighting the human aspect of conflicts, reminding the world of the importance of supporting humanitarian responses to refugee crises such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, countries the Holy Father is visiting with great courage and foresight,” said Grandi.

Source: High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi sympathizes with Italy on its commitment to protect and find solutions for refugees (Italian original)

HOLY FATHER ON UKRAINE

General Audience - January 25, 2023

In our thoughts and prayers, may the tormented Ukraine, so much afflicted, not be absent. This morning I had a meeting with the leaders of the different Confessions of faith that are in Ukraine – all united – and they told me about the pain of that people. Let us never forget, every day, to pray for definitive peace in Ukraine.

Nei nostri pensieri e nelle nostre preghiere non manchi la martoriata Ucraina, così tanto afflitta. Questa mattina ho avuto un incontro con i Capi delle diverse Confessioni di fede che sono in Ucraina – tutti uniti – e mi hanno raccontato il dolore di quel popolo. Non dimentichiamo mai, ogni giorno, di pregare per la pace definitiva in Ucraina.

Angelus - January 29, 2023

And now I greet with great affection the boys and girls from Catholic Action from the Diocese of Rome! You have come on the “Peace Caravan”. I thank you for this initiative which is so precious this year because, thinking of the war-torn Ukraine, our commitment and our prayer for peace must be even more strong. Let us think of Ukraine and pray for the Ukrainian people, who are so badly treated. Let us listen now to the message that your friends here beside me will read to us.

E adesso con grande affetto saluto i ragazzi e le ragazze dell’Azione Cattolica della Diocesi di Roma! Siete venuti nella “Carovana della Pace”. Vi ringrazio per questa iniziativa, tanto più preziosa quest’anno perché, pensando alla martoriata Ucraina, il nostro impegno e la nostra preghiera per la pace devono essere ancora più forti. Pensiamo all’Ucraina e preghiamo per il popolo ucraino, così maltrattato. Ascoltiamo ora il messaggio che i vostri amici, qui accanto a me, ci leggeranno.

Pope: We entrust the Mother of God with peace in countries where wars continue, including in Ukraine (Google translate)

NEWS

Archbishop Borys Gudziak: “Ukrainian resistance is a challenge to the narcissism and relativism of our time” (Google translate)

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Patriarch Bartholomew blessed the Ukrainian people: The whole free world is on your side