On World Refugee Day, UNHCR spotlights initiatives and actions that give internally displaced people and refugees hope and possibilities to actively contribute

Titled “Hope Away from Home. A world where refugees and internally displaced people are always included”, the event brought together about ninety participants representing national, regional and local authorities, international partners, and civil society and community-based organisations who are championing initiatives that support “inclusion for solutions”. Key panelists included Aisha Hamza Isa, the youth leader of Muslim Congress in Ukraine, the heads of Kyiv and Rivne oblast state administrations, Ruslan Kravchenko and Vitalii Koval, the deputy mayor of Kryvyi Rih, Kostiantyn Bielikov, the deputy head of the IDP Coordination Council in Chernivtsi, Nataliia Frunze, and the head of the NGO “Veselka TV”, Dina Ibragimova. The event provided a platform to discuss and share best practices for ensuring the active participation and contribution of displaced and war-affected people in formulating ideas and solutions that help restore a sense of normalcy in their lives and enable them to recover and rebuild their lives with a strong sense of hope for the future.

Opening the discussion, the UNHCR Representative in Ukraine, Karolina Lindholm Billing, noted that Ukrainians who have been forced to flee their homes due to Russia’s invasion express a strong hope and desire to return to their homes, when they feel it is safe to do so, and that it is important to nurture that hope by providing support for the recovery of Ukraine, as is being discussed this week at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. “At the same time, displaced Ukrainians also express a strong wish to recover from the trauma, find housing, a job, and to socially integrate in the communities where they currently live, and not stay idle with their lives on hold. The distinguished speakers at this event have a lot of experience in supporting displaced people, of all ages and abilities and disabilities, to be fully included and contribute to their new communities, and to feel Hope while away from Home,” Ms. Lindholm Billing added.

The keynote speaker, Vice Prime Minister, the Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, Iryna Vereshchuk, said that creation of employment opportunities for internally displaced people is one of the priorities for the Government of Ukraine, enabling the recovery of the war-torn country: “Being a refugee stands for everything that should not be happening in the 21st century. People lose, run away, get asylum. And most importantly, they lose hope. We have to do everything possible for Ukrainian people, including men, women and children, so that they do not lose hope. We need to help internally displaced people in Ukraine to find jobs. We need UNHCR and other organizations to invest their resources in supporting employment and creation of gross national product. 2023 and 2024 will be focused on this.”

According to the UNHCR’s flagship annual report, Global Trends in Forced Displacement 2022, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine significantly contributed to the number of refugees and internally displaced people worldwide hitting 110 million, an all-time high. Around 11.3 million Ukrainians are currently displaced, including 5 million within the country and 6.3 million abroad.

Under the leadership of the Government of Ukraine, and in close cooperation with the regional and local administrations, UNHCR Ukraine and its NGO partners reached over 4.3 million people in 2022 plus over 1.3 million people so far in 2023 with humanitarian assistance, including protection services, emergency shelter materials and housing repairs, support for collective centres hosting displaced people, cash assistance and essential items. In 2023, while continuing to prioritize responses to urgent humanitarian needs, UNHCR is also supporting people to rebuild their homes and lives, contributing to the recovery of communities affected by war and displacement, in line with the National Recovery Plan.