Ukraine’s resilience

 

http://www.usip.org/olivebranch/2015/10/19/europe-s-refugee-crisis-shows-ukraine-s-resilience

 

According to the UN fact sheet 2015, more than 1.5 million refugees have occurred in Ukraine for the past 18 months or so. It is overlooked by international attention because the refugees are internally displaced, meaning refugees are moving within their country’s border. The cause of Ukraine refugee crisis is a series of civil wars between pro-Russian activists and Ukraine government. In April 2014, pro-Russian activities succeeded in seizing control of government buildings in Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Due to these civil wars, many citizens had to displace to somewhere safer. Many refugees settled in cities far away from Luhansk and Donetsk. As a result of the war, 5665 people were killed and 13,196 were wounded in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine currently has not tents to house 1.5 million refugees or internally displaced persons (IDP). The eastern province of Dnipropetrovsk has taken more than 73,000 people. The chaos was expected due to the influx of IDPs, but the city was “one of outward normalcy.” Also there has been many efforts to support IDPs. Ukraine’s non-government organizations, comprised with volunteers, are actively providing food, housing, legal advice, and psychological counseling to IPDs. Local government also prepared housings for several thousand people with modest subsidies. The conditions are not ideal and crowded, but far better than camps.

The entire Ukraine refugee crisis is tragic, but has not won many recognition in spite of its number of individuals affected by the conflict. It may be due to the resilience of Ukraine citizens. If they do not commit to help refugees, Ukraine might have suffered more from finding and helping refugees, however, citizens are stepping up to support their fellow citizens to find their places to stay and survive. This tells us the importance of citizens’ role in government and conflict resolutions.