The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
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
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot, UN flag alley UN Geneva.
- Wide shot, press room UN Geneva, podium speakers, seated, with TV screen to the side.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA): “Today, we are launching a humanitarian appeal for the Ukraine crisis with two components: a three-month flash appeal for the situation inside the country, which I have been coordinating, and a regional response plan for the situation beyond Ukraine's borders.”
- Close-up, journalists in profile, masked, with Filippo Grandi on TV screen to rear.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA): “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-month. And of those six million, we calculate over a million will be internally displaced.”
- Medium shot, podium speakers in profile.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): “We have a fairly good picture of the initial needs for the first few months: $550 million, this is what we're appealing for today. This is UNHCR and 12 partner agencies.”
- Close-up, participant checking mobile phone.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): “The numbers that we are beginning to see are extremely worrying. Last night, at the Security Council, I reported 520,000 refugees. Now, less than 24 hours before (later) the latest figure I just got it is 677,000. So, another 150,000 added in less than 24 hours.”
- Wide shot, press conference room.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): “I don't have the detailed breakdown of the 677 (677,000 refugees), but about half are in Poland. This is the country that is clearly, as we predicted, receiving most refugees. About 90,000, probably a little bit more, forgive me if the figures are a bit fluid, have gone to Hungary; almost 60,000 to Moldova, almost 50,000 to Slovakia and almost - or I would say by now - 40,000, in Romania.”
- Close-up, TV camera operator standing by camera, podium speakers to rear.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): “There should be absolutely no discrimination between Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians, Europeans and non-Europeans. Everybody is fleeing from the same risks.”
- Wide shot, press conference room.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): “The tragedy, the enormous wave of refugees from Ukraine is likely to introduce a new dimension to the many years of debate on asylum status, responsibility sharing and so forth”.
- Cutaway
- SOUNDBITE (English): Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): “UNHCR has already received more than $40 million in private contributions from individuals or companies. This is unprecedented. I've never seen it and I think it's positive.”
- Medium shot, participants, seated.
- Medium shot, participants, seated.
- Medium shot, podium speakers.
- Medium shot, TV and video journalists.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Friday called for an end to continuing expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, where “unchecked” settler violence has surged since the war in Gaza began more than two years ago.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
The crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to worsen amid ongoing fighting that has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes and created acute hunger, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Gaza: One million receive food parcels as humanitarians race to ‘push back hunger’
Food is slowly returning to the shelves in Gaza amid “apocalyptic scenes” but supplies are still desperately inadequate, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, as they issued fresh calls for wider access and continued financial support.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango today told the bi-weekly UN press briefing in Geneva of more details that are emerging on the atrocities committed in El Fasher, in Sudan during and after its takeover by the Rapid Support Forces.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango made the following comment on Friday at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani made the following comment on Friday at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , WHO
Sudan: UN Raises Alarm Over Mass Atrocities in El Fasher as Survivors Report Executions, Killings and Rapes
More details continue to emerge about atrocities committed during and after the fall of El Fasher to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan on 23 October. Since the powerful paramilitary group made a major incursion into the city last week, the UN Human Rights Office has received “horrendous accounts of summary executions, mass killings, rapes, attacks against humanitarian workers, looting, abductions and forced displacement,” said Seif Magango, spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
Ukraine: Russian attacks on energy terrorize population as winter starts; could trigger major ‘crisis within crisis’
The UN’s top aid official in Ukraine expressed concern on Friday about “continuous attacks” on energy production sites and distribution facilities.
1
1
1
Edited News | HRC
Navi Pillay Retires After Decades Defending Human Rights and Pursuing Justice
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The telecommunications shutdowns in Afghanistan in September had serious and far-reaching impacts on people’s lives, according to a briefing paper published today by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence at the UN Geneva press briefing made the following comment on the ASEAN declaration on the right to a healthy environment.
1
1
1
Edited News | IFRC , OCHA , WMO
‘Catastrophic’ Hurricane Melissa hours from landfall in Jamaica as humanitarians rush to save lives
Millions in Jamaica and across the Caribbean are bracing for massive impact from Hurricane Melissa on Tuesday as the UN and partners are warning of a “severe” and “immediate” humanitarian threat.