Since 24 February 2022, Ukrainians have not had a day of peace. Russia’s barbaric and illegal invasion of their country displaced 6.2 million citizens in a matter of months, with many, today, still having no idea of when they might be able to return home.
Large numbers reside in temporary accommodation outside of their home country. In Germany, which, along with Poland, is hosting the largest number of Ukrainian refugees, 79% are residing in private accommodation provided under the EU’s temporary protection scheme. This initiative heavily depends on the solidarity of private individuals to shelter those fleeing the war.
News and political agendas have moved on
However, almost two years on, the story of the hardships of Ukraine and its people is receding from international focus. Competing humanitarian disasters, and the shift of attention to Israel’s actions in Gaza, have put the troubles of Ukraine’s refugees on the back burner. For politicians, it is no longer a cause from which they can extract capital and, for the public, the refugee crisis is one that is scarcely reported in news media. This is putting the welfare of millions of Ukrainians at risk.
Squabbles over funding are also breaking out across Europe – as well as in the USA, which is the principal funder of Kyiv’s defence. Many of the charitable schemes set up in 2022 to help refugees have a questionable future ahead of them. This in turn means that growing numbers of refugees, now seeing little to no support in their host countries, face the prospect of having to return to an active and deteriorating war zone.
NGOs struggle for funds and attention
Major on-the-ground actors, including the Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration (ORAM), are witnessing at first hand the impact of this loss of attention, as well as the attempts to reduce funding for those who need it most. ORAM is one of the oldest LGBTQ+ refugee organisations in the world, and provides individuals with the resources and communities they need to rebuild their lives across the world. In the first few months of the war, alongside other frontline organisations, it secured partnerships with major institutions to provide short-term housing to LGBTQ+ Ukrainians in queer-friendly cities, including Berlin.
ORAM’s partnership with Airbnb has spanned two years and was expanded to provide longer term housing for up to six months. This has given refugees a safe place to process their traumatic experiences, as well as to fill out the masses of paperwork required for long-term stays in a host nation.
ORAM’s primary preoccupation in Berlin is providing support in access to short and longer term housing, skills training and case-management assistance with difficulties faced by LGBTQ+ refugees. Provision of housing as well as sector-partnerships with organisations including the Alliance of Gender Equality in Europe, exemplify the ways that charities can collaboratively engage with and prepare refugees for life both in their host country and in Ukraine in the future.
Discrimination against LGBTQ+ refugees
Despite the progressive policies of large numbers of EU member states, violence against Ukrainian refugees – particularly in Poland and Hungary – remains commonplace. In Poland, in particular – a country where, between 2019 and 2020, 105 areas adopted resolutions declaring themselves “free from LGBT ideology” – hostility towards minority groups persists.
This was evidenced in the recent case of Dima, a 24-year-old gay man from Kyiv who, after being turned back at official border points along the Polish border, was forced to cross a freezing river in order to reach the safety of the EU, and eventually find settlement in Berlin. Here, with the support of ORAM, he was initially granted an Airbnb stay for two weeks, which was then extended to longer term housing. He has since been supported with enrolment in German classes and secured training opportunities. However, his struggles persisted due to paperwork issues in Poland and it was only in February 2023, nearly a year after his initial ordeal, that he managed to retrieve his passport and identity documents.
Targeted support is essential
The significance of this level of support cannot be overstated. Nor should it be subject to uncertainty by virtue of competing crises. The sad reality is that we have a political climate in which there is little appetite for long-term commitment – and until Ukraine returns to the front pages and screens of our news cycles, it seems inevitable that funding scarcity will increasingly demand targeted and multi-channelled action for the maintenance of support for millions of refugees.
Collaborations between third sector actors during this period demonstrate the impactful initiatives of NGOs and other frontline organisations in providing immediate and potentially life-long help to those who are displaced.
Camille Ogoti is a Berlin-based human rights activist with a specialisation in refugee and asylum-seeking matters. She is currently heading ORAM’s humanitarian response pertaining to Ukraine from the Berlin office.
