Projects

Short Description:

Overall goal

The overall objectives of the program are 1) to make people, especially children who live in the conflict area along the line of contact in Eastern Ukraine aware of the threat of weapon contamination and knowledgeably reduce their exposure to risks of mine accidents; 2) at the same time the program aims to help disabled people regain their mobility and dignity in two physical rehabilitation centers in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Expected results

In total, the program aims to reach the following results:

a) some 700,000 people, especially children, living in the conflict area along the confrontation line are less affected by, and reduce their exposure to, the effects of weapon contamination.

b) some 3,000 disabled, amongst them weapon-wounded, benefit from improved accessibility, quality and sustainable physical rehabilitation services at two ICRC supported centers in Donetsk and Luhansk and see their social and economic inclusion enhanced.

Target group / Beneficiaries

With the Austrian contribution of EUR 500,000, the ICRC can assist the following number of beneficiaries:

- some 190,217 people directly at risk from mines/ Explosive Remnants of War (ERW)

- some 815 disabled people.

The ICRC works closely with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and implements this program in Eastern Ukraine, along the line of contact as well as in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Activities

Activities include:

• With the national authorities mark areas contaminated by mines and ERW.

• Provide two physical rehabilitation centers in non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions with supplies and equipment for producing assistive devices, and donate walking aids and wheelchairs to relevant actors there, including the local Red Cross branches.

• Give the center in Donetsk technical advice for establishing standards and protocol for care.

• Provide funds and technical guidance for two organizations of disabled people and one sports center for organizing societal integration activities for up to 480 disabled people.

• Help the Ukrainian Red Cross volunteers promote and teach their Safe Behavior and Risk Awareness Programme.

• Capacity Building of National Stakeholders, reinforcing their capability to provide specialist medical care in case of blast accidents.

Context

The armed conflict in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine continues. The discussions of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine – made up of representatives from the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe – are continuing in Minsk, Belarus, but have not yet produced a settlement of the conflict.

Economic relations across the front line – which separates government-controlled areas from non-government-controlled areas – have all but collapsed, owing in part to a trade blockade imposed by the Ukrainian government earlier in the year. Unemployment has increased, as production in key industries has plummeted; in some areas, the banking system and/or markets no longer function.

Tens of thousands of civilians cross the front line daily to visit relatives, to obtain official documents or for other purposes, such as the bimonthly verification process for accessing State pensions.

People are being detained in relation to the conflict by all parties involved. People in many areas are at risk of injury from gunfire, shelling, mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW). Storage of hazardous chemicals in industrial areas near the front line, within range of heavy weaponry, poses an additional threat.

Passage across the front line remains restricted to five crossing points; civilians, many of whom are elderly, sometimes queue at these crossing points for hours. As they wait to cross, they are menaced by mines and ERW, and, in the summer and winter, exposed to extreme temperatures.

The threat of mines and ERW prevents the safe use of agricultural land and hampers people’s access to goods and services and to health facilities.