Leading Ukrainian politicians have accused the UN refugee agency of preparing for war and pulling its staff out of troubled areas. They also criticized the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for calling them “powerless” when it comes to protecting refugees.
Irina Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, says major humanitarian organizations appear to be “disoriented” by the conflict. Lviv Mayor Andrei Sadov says that at the beginning of the conflict, they were simply “concerned about drinking wine and coffee.”
“Unfortunately, no foreign or international NGO was prepared to start a war in Ukraine, despite the fact that for six months everyone was talking about it and everyone was warning that the war would start,” Sadov said.
The mayor says the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has made the safety of his staff a priority over the lives of Ukrainians, who are facing the worst possible Russian bombing. Lviv Deputy Mayor Sergi Kiral says he was surprised when UNHCR officials described their own staff as “refugees” during talks with them during the first phase of the conflict.
About a million people have crossed into Lviv and the city’s population has grown by 200,000 since Vladimir Putin launched a so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24.
According to Kiral, “For the first two weeks, what they told us here was that they themselves were refugees, as they were busy evacuating staff in Kyiv, finding places to stay for them, making sure they were safe and then psychologically well. You know, you do not expect that from them. ”
“When it comes to big organizations like the UN refugee agency, it took us a week to get into management, just to get to talk to one person. One week later, the head of the UN office in Ukraine met with the mayor and deputy mayor to discuss the needs, and we listed what we needed, humanitarian aid, food … there were many promises and commitments. And nothing has happened so far. ”
A UNHCR spokesman said the agency had relocated staff from Mariupol, Sivierodonetsk and the capital Kiev to safer parts of the country, but its overall staff had grown in the country. “No one was ready for an emergency of this magnitude and speed. “Even before the war, the Ukrainian government criticized the international media for creating fear and saying that they did not expect the invasion,” he said.
“The safety of our staff is, of course, a priority, but it has not reduced our stay in Ukraine. Most of our staff based in Mariupol, Sievierodonetsk and Kyiv have temporarily relocated to safer areas such as Dnipro, Lviv and Vinnytsia. For its part, UNHCR has increased the number of staff in the country by approximately 50 people in recent weeks (currently up to 154) and continues to hire more staff to increase our capacity to implement a valuable emergency program. ”
A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross says some young family workers have left the country, but it employs about 80 more people in the country than before. However, the ICRC has come under heavy criticism for repeated failures of agreements along humanitarian corridors from cities such as Mariupol on the Sea of Azov. Only one such corridor has been successfully created between the northern cities of Sumy and Luban, which is why the Vice President of Ukraine in an interview in Kyiv called the organization “powerless”. Vereshchuk says: “We give you an assignment: Chernigov or Kherson, places where it is difficult for us. “Where we can not negotiate with the Russians, we tell them to go and evacuate the people themselves, go by bus and bring the people and they will not be able to do that.”
Red Cross response: “We must maintain neutrality”
An ICRC spokesman said the agency could only “facilitate” the establishment of a safe passage for refugees and that warring parties should reach an agreement. “We have been discussing with the Ukrainian and Russian authorities for weeks. “It is up to them to agree on specific terms when it comes to humanitarian corridors or safe crossings,” he said. “They have to be very specific about how, when and what needs to happen: they have agreed on the road, the right moment, the duration, all these guarantees. And from there you can ask the ICRC to facilitate this process. Unfortunately, it depends on them. We can only contribute. We must maintain neutrality. “This is a difficult role for the ICRC, and that is why we are facing so much criticism from all sides at the moment.”
ICRC President Peter Maurer visited Ukraine a week ago and met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Thursday. “Neutral and impartial, [el CICR] Has a mandate to speak to all parties to the conflict to uphold respect for the laws of war that protect the lives of civilians. ” write On Twitter.
However, photos of imaginary Bonhomi at the meeting angered many Ukrainians. On Sunday, Ukraine asked the ICRC not to open its planned office in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, saying it would legalize the forced deportation of Ukrainians by Moscow.
Translated by Julian Cnochaert.
Source: El Diario
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
