Weekly Update #65
May 29

Insecurity and access challenges continued, however, to hamper assistance in areas under the military control of the Russian Federation, despite extensive efforts and ongoing engagements to enable humanitarian operations in all parts of the Ukrainian territory. In 2023 alone, because of the deterioration of the security situation and shifts in the front line, humanitarian partners have lost access to almost 60,000 people in almost 40 towns and villages in the east of the country. Humanitarians are, however, striving to keep some support to people in desperate need in areas under Russian control, although the response is not at scale. By the end of April, aid organizations had reached, for example, around 60,000 people with cash assistance in this part of the country, disbursing in the first months of 2023 nearly US$780,000 to people impacted by the war.

Source: OCHA

_________________________________________________________

The impact of one year of conflict on women and children in Ukraine

A report by the Data Friendly Space, a non-profit organization based in the US released a report analyzing the impact of the war on Ukraine on women and children in the country. 

Women and children have become particularly vulnerable to protection threats and risks related to their living conditions. Such risks include the loss of safe places and reduced access to education for children; the heightened stress linked to women's income loss; the psychosocial impact on women and children; and the lack of access to goods and services resulting in threats to households’ nutrition. While progress had been made towards gender equality before the escalation of the conflict, the ongoing crisis has exacerbated gender inequalities, with women facing discrimination and multiple risks.

Current figures from IOM GPS Rnd 12 (January 2023), indicate that women still make up to 41% of displaced people in the country with 32.5% being men and 26.5% children. In addition, women outnumber men amongst those returning to their place of origin, with 45.5% of the 5.56 million returnees being women, with 31.5% men and 23% children (IOM 16/02/2023, IOM 23/01/2023). UNHCR data indicates that over 8.2 million people have also fled outside of the country as refugees, also predominantly women and children. Whilst definitive disaggregated figures are not available, data UNHCR’s December factsheet (based on over forty thousand interviews with refugees in countries neighbouring Ukraine) indicated that 52% of refugees were women, 35% were children, and only 13% were men.

The report identified six critical areas of impact, highlighting specific data in each area.

Violence and Inherent Protection Threats

Children and women are particularly vulnerable to protection risks in conflict situations.  The ongoing conflict in Ukraine is heavily impacting the lives of children with widespread reports of trafficking, forced deportations and abductions.  

Since the escalation of the conflict, 7.5 million children from Ukraine have been suffering from what is considered the recent largest human displacement crisis in the world, and one likely to have lasting consequences for generations. It is estimated that at least 1,000 children have been killed since the onset of the invasion in February. Additionally, since June, numerous need assessments and reports have identified the increased risk of physical violence and kidnapping in the country with concerning reports coming from Chernihiv, Sumy and Kyiv oblasts where heavy fighting occurred during the first three months of the conflict.

The rise in protection risks has been driven by the ongoing conflict and massive displacement, with trafficking, abuse, sexual harassment and domestic violence being consistently highlighted by the Protection Sector. Two thirds of women in Ukraine had experienced some form of gender-based violence in their life before the war. As of the end of 2022, 3.6 million people needed GBV support, 39% of whom reside in the east and south of Ukraine.

Family Separation and Unaccompanied Children

Family separation is becoming a critical protection concern across Ukraine with unaccompanied children and children living in institutional care being the most vulnerable. This concern for family separation has been reported by 85% of girls and 79% of boys aged between 14-17 assessed by a World Vision assessment published in February 2023 and by 78% of girls and 82% of boys aged between 9-13. In Kharkiv alone, 8% of households assessed by War Child in early 2023 reported that they had heard of children being separated from their caregivers. This has also been raised by respondents in multiple reports since the beginning of the conflict, especially in areas such as Kharkiv where military offensives and displacement have greatly reduced the ability of child protection and other social services to operate effectively.

There are also growing concerns around unaccompanied or separated children who are at greater risk of being victims of trafficking, abduction physical violence and explotation. They face challenges in accessing most services, including social housing and healthcare. A REACH report from September showed that 2% of assessed collective sites in Ukraine reported the presence of unaccompanied children. Alarmingly this rate reached 11% in the Zaporizha oblast. In the last six months, various reports have documented the presence of unaccompanied children in the conflict-affected areas, especially in Zaporizka and Chernivestka oblast. Amnesty International also stated in November that children who were in orphanages and institutions in Russian-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts before the war were moved to Russia and thus separated from their families.

Mental Health

Growing reports of anxiety, stress and depression amongst children are being made in Ukraine with significant concerns being raised in Kherson, Dnipro and Kharkiv oblasts around the lack of access to mental health services.

These hostilities have forced them to hide underground for an average of about 920 hours in the last year – equivalent to 38.3 days (or more than a month). Unsurprisingly, the events in the country have had long-term repercussions on the mental health of children. WHO has reported that 9.6 million people in Ukraine are at risk of mental health issues, many of whom are children. UNICEF estimates that 1.5 million children are at risk of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues, with potential long-term effects and implications. Children have reported increasing concerns for their safety and well-being indicating that many suffer from major psychological stress.

Children are increasingly reporting the use of negative coping strategies with assessments indicating the growing presence of addiction and child labour amongst teenagers with many also running away from home. Negative strategies have been adopted by households such as the use of alcohol, medication, or other substances (predominantly sedatives) to cope. This was highly reported in Dnipropetrovska (29%), and Poltavska (22%), in comparison to an average of 3% across the other assessed oblasts.

The assessment also shows that children are running away from their homes to escape their current situation with 40% of teenage girls reporting eloping from home as a coping strategy. It is unclear where these children are going or if they are staying with their friends in some nearby location. Begging has also become very common in the assessed oblasts with close to 20% of children across all age groups citing it as an activity they do. The findings from the same report also showed an increasing presence of child labour in the assessed areas, especially amongst young girls with an overall 20% of girls in the age group 9-13 and 14-17 reporting it.

Livelihoods

The south and the east of Ukraine are the areas where people face the most difficulties in earning money due to the war. By May 2022, 13% of IDPs were living in single female heads of households, 70% of whom had no income or income below UAH 5000. In such contexts, the lack of childcare is one of the main barriers to access to employment, as shown by UNHCR survey from November 2022. According to REACH MSNA, 85% of female single parents as heads of households were between ‘below lower’ and ‘upper’ expenditure threshold.  Across Ukraine, 49% of returnee women have an income of UAH 10,000 or less, compared to 33% before the conflict. Also, one fifth (20%) of returnee women report an income of 5,000 UAH or less.

Education

There has been widespread destruction of education infrastructure with education institutions continuing to be damaged or destroyed by missiles, airstrikes and shelling. Many schools and colleges have also had their premises repurposed for humanitarian or even military use.

The devastating impact of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine on the education sector continues with widespread damage to educational institutions primarily through the use of explosive weapons, including missiles, airstrikes and shelling. By May 2023, a total of 3252 educational institutions had been damaged, including 277 that have been destroyed.

The risk to children posed by missiles, airstrikes and shelling has forced many parts of the country to push education services to either a blended approach or fully online. At the start of Ukraine’s new academic year (01/09/22), the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) reported that only 27% of schools resumed face-to-face learning, with 43% relying entirely on distance learning, and 30% a mixed modality.

Inadequate internet access is the main barrier to education according to roughly half of both IDP households (48%) and non-displaced households (45%) surveyed in round 12 of the IOM GPS. A nationwide survey of  higher education establishments indicated even greater issues with 79% of the responding institutions reported that the lack of an internet connection was a major barrier to learning.

Nutrition and Reproductive Health

Concerns around nutrition remain although there is a lack of recent quantitative data. The latest REACH MSNA data show that 45% of households with babies under 6 months were facing problems in feeding them. Among households with children under two, 56% reported not having been aware of the distribution of infant food or baby formula and 51% cited baby food as a priority need.

Low levels of breastfeeding practices and poor access to baby formula exacerbates nutrition risks for children. Finally, the latest data from REACH MSNA collected by the end of 2022, showed that 15% of women who have children under two have faced struggles related to breastfeeding due to a lack of breastmilk. 11% of them lactating were also facing barriers to accessing infant formula. Among households with children under two, 56% reported not having been aware of the distribution of infant food or baby formula and 51% cited baby food as a priority need.

Increased food prices have indeed reduced access to nutritious food for households in Ukraine with the situation further aggravated by an access gap in nutrition services (especially in conflict-affected areas). Women also suffer from poor nutrition, with risks to their pregnancy and to their breastfed babies.

Source: DFS: Ukrainian Conflict Analysis Brief - The impact of one year of conflict on Women and Children in Ukraine (19 May 2023)

_________________________________________________________

Ukraine Multi-Sector Needs Assessment - A brief look at inaccessible areas, May 2023

For the purpose of establishing a comprehensive overview of the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, WFP Ukraine and REACH Initiative collaborated to carry out a Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (MSNA).  13,449 household-level face-to-face and telephone interviews were carried out in accessible and partly accessible areas in 23 oblasts of Ukraine between October and December 2022. However, this data left an information gap on inaccessible areas where faceto-face or phone interviews were not an option at the time of data collection: areas within Donetska, Zaporizka, Luhanska and Khersonska oblasts outside the control of the government of Ukraine since February 2022 or near combat zones. It is estimated that approximately 2 million people live in these territories.

Interviews with residents were not feasible in these areas, so instead an Area of Knowledge (AoK) approach was employed.  In the AoK approach, respondents are interviewed due to their recent knowledge of a specific area/settlement because they have recently been there or been in touch with friends or relatives there. Using this approach, 268 settlement-level interviews were conducted between November 2022 and January 2023. Whilst MSNA household level data examines the humanitarian situation for households based on a large representative sample, the AoK focuses on the settlement level with a small sample size of respondents not currently present in the settlement, and findings are therefore indicative and non-representative.

This brief provides a summary of findings from the inaccessible areas where the AoK approach was implemented, with comparisons made to the MSNA household data where relevant to better understand the differences in the humanitarian situation across inaccessible and accessible areas.

Respondents painted a dire picture of needs in the assessed inaccessible areas, mainly driven by severe security concerns, lack of adequate basic services, and lack of sufficient income or work opportunities to cover needs.