Popasna: EU cooperation aid to Ukraine on the front line

Life a daily struggle for IDPs. Photo credit EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Foter CC BY-ND

«You got me living on the front line, they got me living on the front line. Oh what kind of man could I be if I can't talk about what I see? They got me born in the wrong time». (Eddy Grant, 1979).

Millions of people in Ukraine are in need of humanitarian aid due to the combined impact of conflict, displacement and extreme poverty. Despite a cease-fire agreement (Minsk II) signed on 12 February 2015, continuous fighting and violence are reported. The volatile security situation continues to severely hamper the access of humanitarian organisations to the people in need.

Access to Donetsk and Luhansk regions remains challenging. The only crossing points for humanitarian cargo to non-government-controlled areas are Volnovakha and Horlivka. Popasna is an intermitent access. Three points in 270 kms. In locations where fighting has taken place, the contamination by mines and unexploded ordnances (UXOs) remains a major issue.

Over 1.35 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) registered, over 900,000 refugees to neighbouring countries, about 5 million of people in need of humanitarian aid, over 16,287 wounded and over 6,500 killed.

Humanitarian organizations are facing the major challenge of accessing the most vulnerable of an estimated 5 million people affected by the conflict that began in April 2014 in eastern Ukraine.

Access challenges vary from security concerns, bureaucratic impediments, and logistical and legal constraints. An estimated 2 million people living in areas along the contact line between Government forces and armed groups are the most vulnerable. Half of these people are estimated to be living in Government-controlled areas (GCAs), while the remainder live in non-GCAs (NGCAs). Fire exchanges and shelling in many hot-spot locations along the contact line are constantly endangering the lives of many civilians and exacerbating their suffering. Their plight has been compounded by their inability to flee to safety, particularly across the contact line (from NGCAs to GCAs) due to complicated procedures on population movements in the area. This has been further aggravated by the lack of social services, disruption of trade, lack of access to pensions and other social-benefit payments, and lack of functioning banking systems in NGCAs. People living in GCAs have been similarly affected and cannot access basic services.

Most of the 2 million people have received limited or no assistance from humanitarian agencies, as aid organizations have been unable to reach these people due to insecurity and bureaucratic hurdles.

An additional 2 million people in NGCAs, further away from the contact line, are another priority group for humanitarian organizations, as they are trying to eke out living while facing similar everyday challenges of a lack of social-welfare payments, livelihood opportunities and functioning banking systems.

Humanitarian agencies are also concerned about the protracted displacement of 1.4 million people in GCAs. About 60 per cent of the registered IDPs are elderly people and about 13 per cent are children. Meeting their needs requires interventions by humanitarian and recovery/development actors in the immediate and longer term.

The humanitarian community has repeatedly advocated to all parties to the conflict to guarantee free and unimpeded humanitarian access, including limiting bureaucratic procedures to the strict minimum. Under international humanitarian law (IHL) and customary IHL, parties to the conflict are responsible for facilitating access for humanitarian organizations to affected people.

Aid organizations have been unable to reach vulnerable people in NGCAs since 21 July. Aid convoys have been suspended since then. This came after 14 July, when the de-facto authorities in NGCAs of Donetska oblast issued a decree regarding registration to all aid agencies operating in the area.

There is a Logistics Cluster which leads, organizes and facilitates inter-agency aid convoys to NGCAs. However, since the suspension on 21 July, the cluster has more than 5,000 metric tonnes of humanitarian assistance in the pipeline, including food, shelter and non-food relief supplies, pending to be delivered to thousands of people in NGCAs. More than 16,000 MT of relief aid are in the pipeline for delivery to NGCAs up to the end of 2015, according to the Logistics Cluster.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) special monitoring mission in Ukraine (SMM) which monitores the implementation of the “Package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements”, noted a marked decrease in fighting in Donetsk and in Luhansk over 29 and 30 August. On both sides of the contact line the SMM observed schools being repaired in preparation for the start of the school year. Despite of that, the OSCE SMM observed 12 violations of the ceasefire on August between 28th and 30^th.

Food and medical supplies to NGCAs are interrupted and there is a lack of medicines and medical supplies in the East. With the winter fast approaching, the humanitarian community is extremely worried about the impact of current access challenges in NGCAs on winter preparedness and winterization efforts. If access continues to be restricted, aid agencies will be unable to transport, store and ensure sufficient supplies of critical non-food and shelter items to help thousands of affected people prepare for the winter.

Water supply and quality for over 1.3 million people is at risk and it exists an urgent need to protect water supply infrastructure.

Low funding for Ukraine Humanitarian Response Plan

The 2015 Humanitarian Response Plan for Ukraine remains underfunded, according to the Financial Tracking Service (FTS). By the end of August, donors disbursed and pledged about US$114 million, which is equivalent to 37 per cent of the $316 million required. This includes $104.9 million (33 per cent) disbursed and another $9.2 million pledged (3 per cent). The shortfall is about $200 million.

The EU and its Member States allocated € 223 million to emergency and early recovery assistance for Ukraine.

The EU bilateral cooperation with Ukraine contributes to the objectives of the Eastern Partnership. In the current exceptional circumstances, it remains difficult to identify multi-annual priorities for EU's bilateral assistance. This is why, for the moment there is no Single Support Framework for Ukraine.

Under the ENI, planned bilateral assistance for Ukraine may total up to €1 billion in the period 2014-2020. This figure is indicative: as for all Neighbour countries, final allocations will depend on the country's needs and commitment to reforms.

In addition, Ukraine can benefit from additional financial assistance granted through the multi-country 'umbrella programme': the incentive-based mechanism that rewards progress in building deep and sustainable democracy with supplementary financial allocations ('more for more') according to EU sources.

Ukraine Human Development Index

The Human Development Index (HDI) was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone. The HDI can also be used to question national policy choices, asking how two countries with the same level of GNI per capita can end up with different human development outcomes. These contrasts can stimulate debate about government policy priorities.

The HDI is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living. The HDI is the geometric mean of normalized indices for each of the three dimensions.

On the basis of most human development indicators Ukraine (HDI Rank 83) lags far behind all EU member countries, including Romania and Bulgaria which joined the EU in 2007. This is a particularly important comparison given that Ukraine has proclaimed and frequently re-affirmed that its key foreign policy goal is to join the European Union. This geo-political aspiration, often referred to as the European Choice, must be considered in tandem with Ukraine’s equally important socio-economic commitment to human development, evidenced in its adoption of its own Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These two intertwined concepts constitute a fundamental frame of reference for policy-making in Ukraine.

The Baltic connection

Estonia Foreign Minister Urmas Paet emphasized the joint contribution made by Estonia’s non-government organisations in helping people that have been internally displaced due to the conflict in Ukraine and recognised the joint initiative of the NGOs “For Ukraine!”.

“The campaign, which was started thanks to the initiative of Estonian NGOs, provides the opportunity for anyone in Estonia to contribute what they are able in order to assist Ukrainians. everyone in Estonia can help the victims of the violence in Eastern Ukraine. This is in addition to the aid provided by the Estonian state,” Foreign Minister Paet said, highlighting the strength of Estonia’s civil society and the desire to jointly help those in need. “All other NGOs, who have a specific humanitarian cooperation plans, are welcome to join the aid campaign coordinated by the NGO Estonian Refugee Council,” the Foreign Minister added.

The joint campaign of the non-governmental organisations Estonian Refugee Council, Mondo and the Ukrainian Cultural Centre “For Ukraine!” involves collecting donations for three humanitarian projects to help Ukraine's internally displaced people and victims of the conflict for the internally displaced in order to provide people with everyday necessities, food aid and medical assistance to local hospitals, as well as medical assistance to support victims of the conflict and their families.

There are also a number of other NGOs who have fundraising campaigns in support of Ukraine like the Estonian National Opera, Estonia for the Good of Ukraine and the Estonian Red Cross.

Foreign Minister Paet said that Estonia will continue to do its part to assist Ukraine in order to cover both short-term humanitarian needs and long-term activities of based on Ukraine's needs.

Ukraine and Estonia are two former Soviet republics. The crisis in Ukraine has a great effect on the Baltic state of Estonia. Both countries have a Russian-speaking community. The Estonian people in the same way that the Ukrainian people suffered deportations and Russian settlement after the annexation by the Soviets. Both Ukraine and Estonia are trying to escape from this legacy of Soviet history. Estonia remains vigilant due to Russian unpredictability illustrated with the Kremlin's decision to annex Crimea.