UNICEF Chief Sliacka: Slovakia is still waiting for the largest influx of refugees from Ukraine
March 8, 2022 at 10:59 p.m. yes Paid content
In Ukraine, there is an increasing problem to buy basic necessities.
The text is a transcript from the ZKH Interviews program, which was created for video.sme.sk. The interview was transcribed by Barbora Paľovčíková.
The initial euphoria of helping the Ukrainians will subside and many problems will come. The future with accommodation, debt or exhausted volunteers, he says MÁRIA SLIACKA, Director of UNICEF Slovakia, which led a mission on the Turkish-Syrian border for refugees from the Syrian war and also coordinated humanitarian aid in Syria. Ukraine during the war in Donbas.
How do they handle the situation of your friends and acquaintances from Ukraine?
Most of the people I worked with remained working for NGOs in Ukraine. Some women who have children are considering leaving but would like to continue working. Some of their family members have already come to other countries, such as Poland.
Over time, the needs of people fleeing war change. Is this a phase in which you need to calm down, stabilize and look around, so do you need food, sleep and warmth in particular?
These are basic needs, as in any crisis. Now it’s a little more complicated in that we look at the crisis from different angles. One is the needs in Ukraine, which are still the biggest.
Then there are the needs for people on the run who come to countries, including Slovakia. Information that I currently have that we do not have the biggest influx in Slovakia yet.
All NGOs, if possible, are looking for a way to send aid to Ukraine, because there is a failure of transport, electricity and infrastructure and it is very difficult to get help there.
The further, the bigger the problem is to buy basic necessities. People, especially medical supplies, medicines, medical equipment for surgery, because there are already many injured. Then basic necessities such as food, water and aids for housing, ie mattresses, beds, mats and sleeping bags.
Mária Sliacka
- she has been the director of the Slovak Foundation for UNIFEF since December 2018,
- started as a volunteer in Kenya,
- led a mission on the Turkish-Syrian border for people in the war-torn areas of Syria,
- coordinated humanitarian aid in Donbas, Ukraine.
How is humanitarian aid delivered to Ukraine?
It is very difficult and very, very difficult to answer. The easiest way would be to negotiate humanitarian corridors and places through which aid is transported at government levels.
In Ukraine, the problem also begins with the fact that you also need equipment for soldiers. Humanitarian material aid, for example from Slovakia, will now be transported across organized corridors by unloading material aid at the Slovak border and loading it into a Ukrainian truck.
However, there is a threat that I am sending to the centralized warehouse and it is not certain whether the aid will reach the ordinary people who will receive it.
Refugee psychologist: What they experience cannot be treated with words Read
Therefore, there is an effort to negotiate so that NGOs can receive material assistance to their organizations on the Ukrainian side. If this is not possible by official means, it is done by various transports.
