Hegemonic power-struggle over Ukraine's future leaves the weakest at the roadside

ZEF-senior researcher Claus Hansen appeals in ZEF's latest<link fileadmin downloads policy_briefs policy_brief_13_hansen.pdf download file> Policy Brief no. 13 to international community to step up humanitarian relief efforts for Ukraine's escalating humanitarian crisis.

Hansen focuses in his Brief, containing latest and up-to-date numbers and statistics, on the rising number of "internally displaced persons" inside Ukraine as well as on the growing number of refugees fleeing to Ukraine's neighboring countries.

"The war in Eastern Ukraine has uprooted two million people formerly living in the conflict regions and put several million Ukrainians at risk of a humanitarian crisis", Hansen poses in his Brief. "The majority of the 1.2 million internally displaced persons belong to the most vulnerable groups of society. There is broad agreement under international organizations that have been monitoring regional developments over the past years that it is only a matter of time before a large-scale humanitarian crisis erupts - unless relief efforts are scaled-up", thus Hansen.

In his set of policy recommendations (page 5), Hansen calls for "decisive action" by the international community. Hansen quotes the European Parliament's President Martin Schulz who urged in a speech in April 2015 "that we need to do everything within our power to help the people in need in Ukraine". However, at the moment Western states and Russia seem to release rather funds for (defensive) military equipment that for humanitarian aid, Hansen concludes.

Read the full text of ZEF's Policy Brief no. 13 <link fileadmin downloads policy_briefs download file>here.