London, September 8, 2023 — “Europe has long been at the heart of geopolitics, but the war in Ukraine has made the continent a key site of humanitarian programing as well as a poster child for the new age of impunity that so threatens the global order. IRC teams are on the front line from Kharkiv to Dnipro, Kherson and Odesa, and also supporting Ukrainian refugees in Poland, Moldova, Germany, the UK and beyond.
"My visit to Poland and Ukraine this week allowed me to meet IRC staff, clients, partners and government donors. The pain and damage of the war was evident, but so was the resilience and courage of our clients and skill, professionalism and commitment of our own staff and our partners. They are finding solutions in the most difficult circumstances.
"My visit contained a clear message: there is real danger that the lengthening duration of the conflict normalises the international community, anaesthetises people, to what is in fact abnormal. The bombing of marketplaces and civilian infrastructure should never be seen as normal. Nor should the need for 12 million civilians, refugees and internally displaced, to have to leave their homes in fear for their lives.
"The destruction of the Kakhovka dam alone affected thousands of people and ensured severe long-term impacts for both the environment and economy of the entire country. I learnt on my visit how the ensuing flood waters carried mines with them far away, leaving swathes of the country potentially contaminated with landmines banned by most of the world.
"The UN has recently confirmed nearly 10,000 civilian deaths in Ukraine since the start of Russia's invasion. The actual number is bound to be much higher. And the number of lives turned upside down and changed forever is in the tens of millions.
“Against this dire backdrop, humanitarian need inside Ukraine is great and growing. 18 million people require humanitarian assistance.I witnessed firsthand the courage of our teams and partners working in the Eastern and Southern regions most heavily impacted by fighting, our 230 staff often struggling with their own experience of displacement. The next winter in Ukraine is almost certain to bring increased Russian missile and airstrikes on essential infrastructure, risking further displacement. All while humanitarian need shows no sign of diminishing, humanitarian funding to Ukraine is half of what it was last year.
“In Poland, 1 million refugees are living in limbo, unsure if and when they will be able to return home. I had the privilege of visiting the IRC’s integration centre in Katowice, where IRC and partner staff are supporting refugees in finding opportunity and a sense of stability in their new communities. The arrival of refugees and the severity of their humanitarian need will persist, especially in the midst of a protracted conflict. A recent IRC survey reveals the depth of their suffering: at least 30% of Ukrainian adults in Poland and nearly half of all children are struggling with the impact of trauma in their daily lives. A 15-year old IRC client told our teams: ‘I realise that I can die anytime.’ The IRC urges the international community to maintain support both to humanitarian assistance inside Ukraine and to neighbouring, refugee-hosting countries- including the extension of the EU’s landmark Temporary Protection Directive into 2025. At the same time, the two-tier response to refugee needs cannot become a norm. The concerning situation at the Belarusian border is a clarion call for all refugees to have equal access to aid, protection, and the respect of their rights.
“Beyond Ukraine and neighbouring states, the humanitarian fallout continues to take a heavy toll globally. Food security has been used consistently as a weapon in this war- from the targeting of Ukrainian grain infrastructure earlier this week to the termination of the Black Sea Grain deal this summer, a decision most painfully felt by the 350 million people today facing hunger. Without the grain deal in place, it is all the more urgent that the United Nations humanitarian response plans for countries at risk of famine are fully funded, and that global efforts to prevent famine are coordinated through a re-energized UN's High-Level Task Force.
“The IRC has too often witnessed how easily protracted conflicts, from Syria to Afghanistan, lose attention and lose interest - for which refugees and the millions caught in crisis the world over have already paid too heavy a price. The central concern - and the scenario the IRC is warning against in no uncertain terms - is that this war, the resulting humanitarian crisis, and the grip of impunity becomes normalised. For the international community to allow the abnormal to take hold is an affront not only to the millions whose lives have been and will be shattered by war, but to the rules-based international order, and the future of global peace and security.”