Action needed to prevent human trafficking among refugees, warns UN
Ukrainian refugee family ‘cried with happiness’ after being among first to have visas accepted
Action needs to be taken to prevent gender-based violence, exploitation and trafficking of women and girls among refugees fleeing Ukraine, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has warned.
Filippo Grandi also revealed the extent of the humanitarian tragedy in some of Ukraine's besieged cities, saying people had been forced to drink rain water and snow melt to survive.
He said more than ten million people had been forced from their homes, with 3.7 million refugees leaving the country, making this the fastest-growing refugee crisis since the Second World War.
It comes as the UK Government has come under fire over its visa schemes for Ukrainians fleeing conflict amid accusations there are “continuing delays and problems” with the process.
Last week ukrainian refugees who did not have any relative sin the UK, but wanted to apply for visas under the new Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme, were told not to travel to britain until they have received a decision on their application.
At that time 150,000 Britons had expressed an interest in housing refugees under the scheme. The Government said it was “moving as quickly as possible” to help those fleeing persecution and its approach is “working”.
But anti-slavery commissionerdame sara thornton said she was “gravely concerned” about the “very real threat of human trafficking facing refugees – overwhelmingly women and children – at the Ukrainian borders and along their journey to destination countries, including the UK”.
Labour’s shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, called on the Government to “urgently publish” more information to show the progress of the visa schemes. She said: “A month after Putin’s invasion began, the continuing delays and problems with the Home Office visa processes for Ukrainian families are just shameful.
“The British people have
shown huge generosity in wanting to support Ukrainian s fleeing Putin’s invasion, but the design of this scheme is causing real problems with continuing delays, huge confusion about how to make it work and safeguarding concerns”.
UNHCR said an additional 6.5 million people have been displaced within Ukraine’s borders. At least 13 million are estimated to be stranded in affected areas or unable to leave due to heightened security risks, destruction of bridges and roads, as well as lack of resources or information on where to find safety and accommodation.
This comes as Karolina Wierzbińska, a co-ordinator at Polish charity Homo Faber, toldbbc scotland she had come across examples of people – sometimes women – preying on vulnerable refugees.
She cited an example of a woman at a bus station in Poland who had told refugees she had 30 houses nearby free for them to use to lure women into going with her and another woman who posed as a refugee to gain other women’s trust.
Ms Wierzbińska said: “For female refugees and children the situation is very, very difficult. Not only because of dangers awaiting them near to the border points, but also dangers awaiting them near to the bus station, railway stations, reception points that are situated in all poland, but also in night shelters.
“Women[ are] offering transportor some kind of accommodation. But when we areas king them to register in our official offices sometimes they just run away. and the scary thing is that these are not only men who are trying to use this very specific situation with female refugees, these are sometimes also women who attempt to pressure female refugees, for example, at the stations.”
Mr Grandi said: “Behind the figures lies unimaginable suffering that only grows as humanitarian needs increase. Intense fighting continues to trigger large-scale displacement, while simultaneously exacerbating the plight of the internally displaced or those who cannot flee the worstaffected areas.
"Homes, schools, hospitals, essential services and other civilian infrastructure have been laid to waste, reducing some people to drinking rainwater and snow melt, cutting off supplies of food and medicines.inside ukraine, establishing safe corridor sand satisfactorysecurity guarantees for the evacuation of civilians continues to be an urgent issue. And the delivery of life-saving aid remains dangerous and challenging.”
Mr Grandi added: “UNHCR has flagged protection risks to groups among those fleeing Ukraine that are of huge concernto us. it is critical that measures are put in place to quickly identify, mitigate and respond to risks of gender-based violence, exploitation, abuse and trafficking of women and girls. We also recognise unaccompanied and separated children, and refugees who are lgbtiq +, older or living with disabilities have particular needs and could be vulnerable to greater protection risks.
"Thousands of third-country nationals fled the war alongside Ukrainian nationals, including some in need of international protection or at risk of statelessness. Many have reached safety or returned to their home countries. However, there are persistent reports of unequal or discriminatory treatment." A Ukrainian mother whose UK visa has been approved after she was matched with a family in Somerset said she broke down in tears when she learned that her tenyear-old son would “finally be safe”.
Kristina Kobzar, 29, from Nizhyn in the Chernihiv region, will travel to Britain with her son, Oleksandr, after being sponsored by a family in Taunton under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
She is understood to be among the first refugees to have been accepted as part of the programme.
Ms Kobzar and her son left their home, where they had suffered intermittent shelling for weeks, on Tuesday. They are now in Lodz, Poland.
Her husband remains in Ukraine, where like most men aged 18 to 60, he has been banned from leaving so he can fight against Russia’s invasion.
Ms Kobzar said her son was “very upset”.
The mother and son were matched with solicitor Natalie Dyson, 48, on a Facebook group, who is welcoming them into the home she shares with her three children.
On Wednesday, her application was approved by the Home Office followed by her son’s on Thursday. “We will finally be safe. We were very happy and crying,” Ms Kobzar said. “My husband was happy that we could leave and we would not be threatened.”
Ms Dyson was also overcome by emotion when the email arrived.
“I was shaking. We’ve never met but they feel like family because we’ve been talking so much on social media and we built up a rapport very quickly,” she said.
She will welcome the family into the home she shares with her children, Emilia, 12, Eleanor, 11 and Oscar, eight. They will share a spare room but also their own living room.
“A local primary school has said even though they’re full they think they can take her son,” Ms Dyson said. “A local hotel has offered [Ms Kobzar] a full-time job as a pastry chef. That’s what she did in Ukraine.”
Having done most of the legwork while working full time, Ms Dyson wants the government to clarify more details about the support being offered as part of the scheme. “How do they access universal credit? It’s the nitty-gritty details that are missing. It’s a great scheme but the sponsors need the flesh around the bones of it,” she said.
“I, like everybody else, am utterly horrified [by Russia’s invasion], I just can’t comprehend what is happening in Ukraine,” Ms Dyson said. “It’s amazing how people in our community have stepped up. We’ve got quite a strong Ukrainian community so we have interpreters.”
Despite the good intentions of the residents, it may take time for Ukrainian families to settle in – not least because many, including the Kobzars, will need English lessons.
“It was important for me to get the right family mix. I’ve got two little girls and a boy and my boy wanted [to host] a boy,” said Ms Dyson.
Ms Kobzar said she was among the fortunate amid a “very difficult situation”. “Thanks to Natalie, we will be able to try to return to life,” she said. “I hope a lot of people are lucky like me”.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is yet to publish any data on the number of applications it has received or visas it has approved under the programme.