United Nations

Nations Unies

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

As delivered

Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, and Deputy Emergency
Relief Coordinator, Ursula Mueller
Remarks at Member States Briefing on Ukraine
New York, 23 October 2017

Excellencies, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
I am grateful for this opportunity to brief you on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in
eastern Ukraine. I have just returned from there and had the chance to cross the conflict
lines, and witness first-hand how, after four years of violence, it is ordinary men, women
and children who still bear the brunt of the suffering.
Today, around four million Ukrainians need humanitarian assistance, particularly in the
eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. At least 2,500 civilians have been killed since
hostilities began, and nearly 9,000 people have been injured. Almost every night,
civilians are subject to shelling and sporadic fighting between parties to the conflict along
a 459-kilometre conflict line in Europe’s back yard.
I was struck by the resilience and stoicism of the conflict-affected people I met in
Ukraine, but I was also disturbed to see that some were beginning to lose hope. They felt
the world was no longer interested in their plight. As one mother in Sviatohirsk told me:
“Our children have already seen more violence and hardship than I have in 37 years. We
do not know what the future holds for them.”
The Ukraine Government has registered over 1.6 million internally displaced people
across the country. The most vulnerable among them are the elderly, with pensioners
making up over half of the total number of people in need. As host communities’
hospitality wanes and as assets run dry, many of these internally displaced people are
surviving on next to nothing, their coping mechanisms eroded.
Valentina, aged 65, lives in a small damp room in Sviatohirsk, home to many IDPs. Cut
off from her family members, who are living in an insecure area, Valentina fears falling
sick in the dead cold of winter, which is unforgiving in Ukraine. She cannot afford to
replace her broken walking stick, so it is hard for her to get around.
Sergiy, 54, lives nearby in a centre for displaced families. He put it simply. “We need
fuel for the winter, now. We do not know if we will survive without coal.”
The mission of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is to mobilize and coordinate
effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors

 Valentina, Sergiy and many others I met, spoke of facing impossible choices: whether to
spend their meagre resources on buying food, coal or medicine. This is not the life of
dignity that they deserve.
Legal impediments make it difficult for IDPs to access the basic services and entitlements
they need and as such, they still require humanitarian assistance, in the form of
healthcare, food, shelter and counselling services. The needs of host communities must
also be addressed, as resentment, discrimination and stigma of IDPs mounts. Repairs are
urgently needed to damaged, critical infrastructure near the ‘contact line’ to ensure that
inter-dependent water and heating systems work. If not, thousands of civilians will have
to seek new dwellings.
Particularly hard-hit are the 3 million people in Ukraine who live in non-Government
controlled areas across the contact line. Facing severe restrictions on their freedom of
movement, many of them have very limited or no access to basic health, education and
other services. Up to one million crossings are made a month as the sick seek medical
care, and the elderly pick up their pensions. Some 600,000 pensioners across the contact
line have not been able to access their pensions at all, due to bureaucratic hurdles.
Eastern Ukraine also faces serve protection concerns. It is rapidly becoming one of the
most mined areas in the world, which, if not addressed, will stall reconstruction and
development for many years to come. Mine clearance and risk education is needed in all
conflict-affected areas, particularly along the contact line, including the checkpoints at
the de-facto boarder.
While active fighting declined in September, we are seeing further politicization of
humanitarian assistance by all parties as a tool in the conflict. Despite some
improvements, particularly in Government-controlled areas, parties to the conflict have
not complied with key elements of the Minsk agreements on ensuring people’s access to
humanitarian assistance.
Of greatest concern is the fact that access to people of concern is still restricted in
Donetsk and Luhansk. This does not stop NGOs and UN agencies from carrying out
emergency assistance and protection, but it does impede our ability to scale up.
We urge the de facto authorities to allow all UN and INGO programmes to resume in full,
for the benefit of the people for whom they are responsible, consistent with international
law. I also appeal to the Government of Ukraine to do all it can to ensure freedom of
movement of civilians, and to end the commercial ban across the contact line. And I urge
the Government to adopt a comprehensive approach to solve the plight of Internally
Displaced Persons, including through its IDP Strategy.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The United Nations and humanitarian organizations continue to assist where they can and
to advocate for access where they cannot. Between January to June 2017, about 2 million
people were provided with some form of aid, be it access to safe water, food assistance,
essential items, education materials and hygiene kits.

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 But access constraints and resource shortages stop us from providing so much more. This
year’s Humanitarian Response Plan – near to the end of the year – is just 26 per cent
funded. The Humanitarian Country Team is currently assessing needs and planning the
2018 response, but it is impossible to do so effectively without some assurance from
donors that support will be forthcoming.
I am very grateful to the Humanitarian Coordinator, Neal Walker, who has led
humanitarian operations in Ukraine for three years and clearly recognizes the importance
of aligning humanitarian and development action in order to achieve the durable solutions
that IDPs like Valentina and Sergiy sorely need.
I also thank the Government of Ukraine for its commitment to improve the ability of
humanitarians to operate in both eastern Ukraine and the areas it controls, and I urge it to
dismantle remaining bureaucratic impediments to freedom of movement.
Before I hand over to Ambassador Yelchenko, let me close by reminding all here today:
Ukrainians are entering the fourth winter with no definitive ceasefire on the horizon. As
members of the international community, we each have a part to play in supporting
conflict resolution and lasting peace. This is the only lasting humanitarian solution for
millions of people in Ukraine.
Thank you.

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