The torment that Russia’s “senseless war” is unleashing on the population of Ukraine and other countries is “colossal,” he told the Security Council the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian and Emergency Aid.
Amid ongoing humanitarian operations, Martin Griffiths told council ambassadors that he had come to brief them in New York on the “widespread death, destruction, displacement and suffering” that has been taking place since the Russian invasion on 24 February, and the problems that continued violence and wintry weather are exacerbating.
“More than 14 million people remain forcibly displaced from their homes in Ukraine, including the 6.5 million internally displaced persons in Ukraine, and the more than 7.8 million refugees who have been registered across Europe,” he said. .
Citing data from the UN Human Rights Office, he officially reported 6,702 civilian deaths and 10,321 others injured since February 24, including 419 children, but said: “we know that the real number of victims is much higher“.
For her part, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there have been at least 715 attacks against the Ukrainian health system, of which 630 affected health facilities and 61 personnel.
“These attacks in Ukraine account for more than 70% of all attacks against healthcare infrastructure this year worldwide,” the official said.
child suffering
Griffiths noted that since February 24, 1,148 children have been killed or injured, “while millions have fledhave been uprooted from their homes, separated from their families or exposed to the risk of violence”.
In the Council chamber, Griffiths, who for years worked for UNICEFwas visibly dismayed when reporting that some 765,000 children have needed and received psychosocial supportto help them overcome the trauma they have been through.
Meanwhile, mobile teams from the centers for internally displaced persons are registering, assessing and providing direct support.
At the same time, gender-based violence against women and girls remains widespread and unreported.
As humanitarian workers work to respond to this crisis, the UN is expanding essential services, including a network of safe spaces, and providing survivor-focused services primarily women, girls, boys and men who have experienced gender-based violence.
A man looks at a damaged business in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Assault on the energy grid
Amid frigid temperatures expected to drop below minus 20 degrees Celsius, attacks against the country’s energy infrastructure continue, leaving millions of people without access to heat, electricity and water“which adds another dangerous dimension to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war,” Griffiths said.
These attacks deprive the population of basic health care and children of their right to education.
“Today in Ukraine the survival capacity of the civilian population is under attack“, he explained, recalling that already vulnerable people, such as the elderly and the displaced, are most at risk.
Under international law, “objects essential to survival (…) must be protected (…) in all military operations,” added Griffiths.
The humanitarian community continues to serve Ukrainians, with almost 690 partners providing vital aid and protective services to 13.5 million people.
Request for international help
Working around the clock to provide vital winter services and supplies, emergency aid has already reached more than 630,000 civilians, providing some 400 vital electricity generators to essential facilities.
However, since October, the continued attacks on the entire energy grid by Russian forces have created a new level of needhe warned.
“The magnitude of the destruction of the electrical and heating infrastructure requires greater support from the international community to the Government of Ukraine, beyond what humanitarian organizations can provide,” he warned.
Donor Generosity
Griffiths praised the unprecedented support from national governments and other donors to the United Nations Flash Appeal for Ukraine, noting the receipt of $3.1 billion of the $4.3 billion needed by the end of the year.
“To date, we have transferred nearly $1 billion in cash humanitarian aid to more than 4.3 million people,” he reported. “But more needs to be done to fill the funding gap. Continued support is essential to sustain humanitarian operations until 2023“.
A nine-year-old girl rests while helping her mother clean her house, mostly destroyed by shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine.
access to those in need
While acknowledging some improvements in humanitarian access, he said there remain impediments to reaching the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia areas.
“It is absolutely vital that humanitarian organizations are allowed to send staff and inter-agency convoys to deliver relief items to all those in need, wherever they may be,” he stressed.
Of the 13.5 million people served since February, about a million are in areas outside the control of the Ukrainian government.
“Under international humanitarian law, all parties must allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian aid to civilians in need and must ensure that relief personnel have the freedom of movement necessary for their work,” he said.
spare no effort
Globally, at the beginning of 2022, 274 million people were in need of humanitarian aid. The expected number for 2023 has increased to 339 million, among other things due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, representing an increase of 24%, Griffiths told the ambassadors.
“It represents one in every 23 people on the planet,” he said, equating the figure to the population the size of the world’s most populous country.
“We must do more to reverse this devastating trend (…) redouble all efforts to prevent further escalation and end the war in Ukraine (…) and spare no effort for peace.”
