Ukraine one year on: NGOs call for the protection of civilians, humanitarian access, localization and durable solutions

Published 23. Feb 2023
The lives of nearly 44 million people in Ukraine have been impacted since the escalation of the war one year ago. Nearly 18 million men and women, boys and girls are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance within Ukraine, including the 6 million internally displaced, and a further 8 million have been forced to flee into neighboring countries. Ahead of the one-year mark of the escalation of the international armed conflict, the undersigned members of the Ukraine Advocacy Working Group call on the international community to urgently prioritize: the protection of civilians; humanitarian access to hard to reach communities in need; localization and durable solutions.

You can read a copy of the report here.

We are calling on all relevant stakeholders to prioritize the following:

  • Urge for International Humanitarian Law to be fully upheld with due consideration to the principles of humanity, necessity, proportionality, and distinction. All attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, should be systematically condemned and responsible individuals held accountable.
  • Commit to fully fund the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan, and Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRRP). Ensure that all interventions (in response plans and beyond) are informed by the views of all affected people, including consulting women, children and marginalized groups on their specific needs and priorities.
  • Ensure that all interventions (in response plans and beyond) are informed by intersectional gender analysis and sex, age, race, ethnic background and disability disaggregated data.
  • Urgently reinforce dialogue on humanitarian access to conflict-affected areas and ensure that people can access humanitarian aid wherever they are.
  • Scale up direct, flexible and unrestricted funding for national and local organizations. Foster the development of new pooled funds and consortia modalities for smaller and newer humanitarian NGOs and voluntary networks to allow for WROs/WLOs, LGBTQIA+, and youth-led organisations working with marginalised groups to access funding. In coordination with intermediaries, UN agencies and INGOs, harmonize and simplify reporting procedures, due diligence and compliance processes.
  • Ensure meaningful consultation and participation of Ukrainian civil society organizations, including WROs/WLOs, LGBTQIA+, and young people-led organiszations working with marginalised groups and affected communities in all decision-making spaces and dialogue to develop approaches to localization, including provision for multilingual communication.
  • Double-down efforts to protect and support refugees from Ukraine by helping them meet their basic needs, providing them with reception, inclusion, and early integration support to ensure people can make voluntary and informed decisions about their future.
  • Scale up humanitarian, recovery, and reconstruction efforts, as well as coordination between aid organisations and local service providers to ensure durable solutions for displaced individuals and families, both inside Ukraine and abroad. Meaningful participation of IDPs, including older women and men, in the development of solutions and the decision-making on housing, employment and other needs on the local and national level must be at the heart of these processes. Consultations should be extended to those displaced in host countries.

SIGNATORIES

  1. ActionAid
  2. Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund
  3. CLEAR Global
  4. Cherkasy Human Rights Center
  5. Christian Aid
  6. Danish Refugee Council
  7. Handicap International
  8. HelpAge International
  9. Helping to Leave
  10. International Rescue Committee
  11. INTERSOS
  12. Medicins du Monde International Network
  13. Mercy Corps
  14. Norwegian People’s Aid
  15. Norwegian Refugee Council
  16. Oxfam
  17. People in Need
  18. Plan International
  19. Polish Humanitarian Action
  20. Premiere Urgence Internationale
  21. Right to Protection
  22. Save the Children
  23. Solidarités International
  24. Stabilization Support Services
  25. Terre des Hommes
  26. War Child
  27. Welthungerhilfe
  28. World Vision