Shattered windows, ransacked rooms, bullet holes in the door. This was the stark reality that we were shown via video link with Andrey Kolesnyk in Ukraine. Andrey works for Stockholm Studios, an organisation that runs a co-living space in Irpin, near Kyiv. Together with his colleague Lena Rantsevich, they joined our members to give us their account of when Russian forces stormed their offices.
With civil society often forced to the frontline of community responses in times of crisis, we heard harrowing stories from those around the table about their members’ experiences in Ukraine. From kidnapped colleagues, to those tragically killed in the Mariupol massacre, it’s clear that more needs to be done for those providing essential services and humanitarian aid on the ground, both to protect them and to enable them to keep doing the vital work that they do.
This is just one solution we call for in our new paper on the EU response to the war in Ukraine. With no sign of the war abating, and consensus that the social and economic shockwaves of the war will be felt across the whole of the EU for decades to come, leaders need to shift towards putting in place medium- and long-term plans. This is why we call for an EU Solidarity Strategy that brings together existing measures and ensures a coordinated, well-managed response that keeps communities and institutions in Europe engaged and supportive.
At our meeting with Andrey we learned about some of the complexities on the ground for the diverse groups our members represent. ILGA-Europe spoke of the barriers that trans people face in accessing transition medicines; Mental Health Europe reported that people experiencing mental ill health are at risk of being institutionalised in the countries they flee to; Caritas Europa raised the dangers faced by children, many of whom are unaccompanied minors and at great risk of human trafficking and other abuses. We also heard about some of the excellent work our members are doing, like the European Association of Service Providers for persons with Disabilities, which is financing the opening of six temporary offices in neighbouring countries to help support and advise people with disabilities, and the European Network of Social Integration Enterprises, whose members are creating quality jobs for refugees from Ukraine. Inclusive humanitarian aid, empowering safe community-led inclusion and ending discrimination among those fleeing have to be primary objectives of decision-makers if we are to come out of this senseless war on the right side of history.
The EU Solidarity Strategy is something that we will push for in the months ahead, but right now is a great time to show individual solidarity. We have put together a collection of fundraising drives being run by our members and any contributions would not only be gratefully received, but would also directly support the vital work they are doing on the ground. Check it out here.
