Ukraine's Internal Refugees On The Brink

What You Need To Know:

✓ The war in Donbas has created more than 2 million refugees, with 1,400,000 going to Ukraine and 860,000 either moving to Russian-occupied Crimea or to Russia itself;

✓ According to Geoff Wordley, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the conflict in and around Donbas is unique in comparison to others he has experienced as it is politically motivated;

✓ “Displaced people should be able to vote in areas where they were displaced from because otherwise their ability to return to those areas would diminish;”

✓ “A Ukrainian citizen who is entitled to a pension is entitled to a pension, whether they are living in Donbas or in Poland.”

The war in Donbas has created more than 2 million refugees, with 1,400,000 going to Ukraine and 860,000 either moving to Russian-occupied Crimea or to Russia itself. An additional 127,000 moved to Belarus. Sixty percent of those displaced, and who wind up relying on the support of international organizations, are the elderly, while around 23 percent are of working age.

According to Geoff Wordley, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, who spent the last eleven months in Ukraine, the conflict in and around Donbas is unique in comparison to others he has experienced as it is politically motivated. The people are all Ukrainian, he says, and are victims of the circumstances that generated this conflict, which has shown the “tremendous ability in the Ukrainian society to help people address the problems caused by these displacements.”

Wordley says that civil society has done an excellent job in addressing need for humanitarian aid for displaced persons. He advises that Ukrainians should continue to build upon this society as it “could form the bedrock of an interesting sort of social support after this conflict is over.”

The primary concerns of most displaced persons are finding a job, accommodation and healthcare – especially for those living in occupied territories. Voting rights and issues have also been raised and Wordley thinks, “displaced people should be able to vote in areas where they were displaced from because otherwise their ability to return to those areas would diminish.”

Due to new Ukrainian legislation, many elderly people are left without pensions. “A Ukrainian citizen who is entitled to a pension is entitled to a pension, whether they are living in Donbas or in Poland,” he affirms. Many individuals have also been seen crossing into government-controlled territory to obtain access to basic services.

Hromadske’s Nataliya Gumenyuk spoke with Geoff Wordley, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Dnipropetrovsk chief, in June 2016 in Kyiv.