Essay on Crisis in Ukraine: Humanitarian and Human Rights Imperatives

On February 24, the world was shocked when Russia invaded Ukraine after sending troops to their borders. Soon after, the world began giving aid. We imposed sanctions, closed businesses in Russia, stopped using Russian exports, and sent military supplies. But what did we do to help the innocent people living in Ukraine? The United States and other countries have given out blankets, toothpaste, food, and toys to people on the streets. We have also agreed to take in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees by the time the conflict is over. While there’s nothing wrong with this approach, it’s just not enough. The people in Ukraine need long-lasting humanitarian aid that will help them rebuild their country and continue with their education even in disasters, not just supplies that will last a couple weeks. According to the World Food Programme, 6 million people will need aid in Ukraine. The humanitarian aid that we send to these innocent citizens needs to be targeted, and most importantly it needs to have a lasting positive impact on the citizens of the country.

Humanitarian aid is most commonly carried out in the form of setting up refugee camps or passing out supplies. If this is done well it can positively impact people’s lives, but much of the aid we give is not targeted enough. For example, the U.S might send money and supplies for the purpose of “helping refugees.”. This is a good purpose, but it is too vague. The money could be used in many different ways, and it is often hard to track where the money actually goes to if it is designated for vague purposes. A better objective would be “Feeding children in refugee camps.” When an objective is this targeted, it is easier to track exactly how it is used, it gives the people receiving the money goals to strive towards, and it is likely to affect more people. The Principles and Good Practice of Humanitarian Donorship say that we should have “funding in proportion to needs”.  Ukrainian peoples’ needs have to be evaluated, and then we need to send the right amount of money and aid for their specific problems. Sending too little money will leave problems unaddressed, and sending too much money without a targeted objective could cause corruption if the money falls into the wrong hands.

Humanitarian aid needs to be carried out in a way that prioritizes effective communication, and the people from the country affected need to be included in the process of giving out money and supplies. Some people, such as Jessica Alexander, William Steiger, and Asher Orkaby from the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan organization that has existed since 1968, say that, “The distribution of humanitarian aid is subject to politicization in both the donor and beneficiary countries. Granting aid to the wrong party can funnel resources to adversarial groups and, especially in conflict zones, disincentivize political leaders from reaching a resolution.” However, if communication is efficient, the donor country will provide incentives for the receiving country to eventually solve the conflict by themselves, and both parties will know who the money is going to. When communication is not prioritized, humanitarian aid isn’t helpful, and it can even resemble colonization.

A program in Kenya called the DrumNet program, started by Innovations for Poverty Action, was supposed to help Kenyan farmers grow more profitable crops, or crops that were in demand in the West. Because of a lack of communication, the Kenyan farmers were not informed that the company buying the crops shut down. The project failed. The Kenyan farmers still had the extra crops that weren’t desirable in their country. Specific teams need to be made to make sure that there is communication between the donor country and the receiving country. Records of how the money was spent and how it actually impacted the community are important, so that donors can be sure the money is actually being used to help people. “Donors with strong cross-government co-ordination mechanisms have the greatest potential to deliver coherent, consistent and holistic humanitarian programming. Effective co-ordination will also support better impact measurement and provide the platform for demonstrating value for money” (oecd.org)

Humanitarian aid often focuses on short term disaster relief, but what needs to be taken into consideration is the long term future of the citizens of the affected countries. While we need immediate action when a war or disaster is still happening, countries still need support when they are in the process of rebuilding. Some may argue that we need to let the country rebuild by themselves, but if it is done right, ongoing humanitarian aid can create a support system for affected countries. This type of aid should rely partly on the country's own government and focus on helping the affected country begin to handle the problem independently. And most importantly, education still needs to be prioritized, even in disasters.

 The kids in Ukraine need to be able to have an education so that they can have jobs to support themselves and their country in the future.  The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operation says, “Education is a fundamental right and a basic need for children caught in humanitarian crises. It is crucial to give them a better future, develop their full potential, and equip them with skills and protection to restore their sense of normality and safety.” Many Ukrainian children are still in school on Google Meet, or doing schoolwork at home, but there needs to be a system to make sure that children who don’t have access to these resources can make up their schoolwork. Aid sent by the E.U is one of the best examples of education aid, sending the equivalent of  787,200,000 dollars to help children stay in school. They have also helped rebuild schools, send school supplies, and provide mental health counselors for children impacted by conflicts or disasters.

So how can we give this aid to Ukraine? What we are already doing is a good start, but we can’t stop helping them once the conflict is over. We need to provide constant support to Ukraine and establish a partnership with them. We have sent 750 million dollars in military aid, but that won’t help refugees or children. What we really need to do is help the people of Ukraine on the path to end the conflict, not send them almost exclusively military aid. The aid that we provide needs to take human futures into account, target the needs of Ukrainian people, and help the children of Ukraine grow up stronger and more educated than their parents' generation.