Ukraine: $1.7 billion appeal launched to help refugee exodus and host countries
The United Nations and humanitarian partners on Tuesday launched a $1.7 billion flash appeal to urgently help people displaced by the Russian military offensive inside Ukraine and beyond its borders.
The escalating conflict has triggered an immediate and steep rise in humanitarian needs as essential supplies and services have been disrupted, while civilians flee the fighting.
Speaking in Geneva, UN emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths explained that the appeal has two components: “a three-month flash appeal for the situation inside the country, and a regional response plan for the situation beyond Ukraine's borders. The flash appeal for response inside Ukraine, which I'm responsible for coordinating, will need $1.1 billion in funding for three months to help six million of the most vulnerable in Ukraine for that three months.”
Also briefing journalists, High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi appealed for “$550 million for the refugee agency and 12 partner agencies”. Noting that 520,000 people were estimated to have been displaced by the Ukraine crisis just last night, Mr. Grandi said that this had already risen sharply, in the space of just a few hours: “677,000 refugees have now fled Ukraine to neighboring countries in the past six days,” he said. “That is 150,000 more, in less than 24 hours.”
The UN estimates that 12 million people inside Ukraine will need relief and protection, while more than four million refugees may need protection and assistance in neighboring countries in the coming months.
Reacting to reports that third-country refugees have been ill-treated at border crossings and inside Ukraine as they try to seek shelter, the UN refugee chief insisted that “there should be absolutely no discrimination between Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians. Europeans and non-Europeans. Everybody is fleeing from the same risks.”
While the European Union is discussing the possibility of giving temporary protection status to refugees from Ukraine, the tragedy is “likely to introduce a new dimension to the many years of debate on asylum status, responsibility sharing and so forth”, said Mr. Grandi.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has already received more than $40 million in private contributions from individuals or companies, an “unprecedented” feat, he added. “I've never seen it and I think it's positive.”
Ends
STORY: UN Emergency appeals for Ukraine and neighbouring countries – OCHA and UNHCR
TRT: 3 mins 24s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 01 March 2022 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
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