Canada’s humanitarian assistance to Ukraine

Canada PM Stephen Harper in Kiev, Ukraine. Photo courtesy of Harper’s official Facebook page.

Ottawa, Ontario — Canada is committed to providing humanitarian assistance to address the needs of those displaced by the conflict in Ukraine. To this end, on September 17, 2014, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced $3 million to support international partners in providing medical attention, food, safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, shelter, emergency child protection, and emergency response and preparedness to help the estimated 3.9 million people living in areas affected by violence, as well as the nearly 200,000 individuals registered as internally displaced throughout Ukraine, many of which require medical care.

The allocations in support of these activities include:

– $750,000 to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the provision of surgical and other medical supplies to 30 hospitals in violence-prone areas, and to help the Ukrainian Red Cross Society in strengthening its emergency response and preparedness, particularly in terms of first aid, psychosocial support and restoring family links;

– $750,000 to support ADRA Canada’s (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) emergency response to provide protection to conflict-affected individuals, and to provide safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene kits for approximately 13,500 individuals living in several conflict-affected Ukrainian communities;

– $600,000 to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) to cover medical needs, including disease monitoring and the procurement of essential medicines, as well as the continuation of health sector coordination and technical assistance for national partners;

– $400,000 to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to address the needs of internally displaced people from conflict-affected areas by integrating them with host communities, providing them with core relief items, and building capacity with host communities for appropriate shelter for the displaced;

– $400,000 to Save the Children Canada for the provision of emergency child protection services, with focused interventions in family-tracing and reunification, water, sanitation and hygiene, psychosocial and educational support for children and the establishment of two child-friendly spaces; and,

– $100,000 to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to support its Humanitarian Advisory Team for Ukraine to strengthen humanitarian decision-making based on common situational awareness, ensure action is guided by joint strategic response planning based on prioritized needs, and enhance coordination to help ensure that people are protected from harm and have access to the assistance they require.

In December 2013, the Government of Canada provided $20,000 to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Disaster Relief Emergency Fund for Ukraine, through an ongoing project with the Canadian Red Cross, for activities undertaken by the Ukrainian Red Cross Society. Canada’s contribution supported the provision of emergency assistance to approximately 10,000 people, including training 500 new first aid volunteers and establishing and equipping 15 first aid depot points with blankets and generators across affected cities in Ukraine.

Canada has also funded the deployment of two Canadian humanitarian experts to support the personnel needs of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and OCHA to fill short-term critical human resource gaps.

Canada has also announced over $50 million in multi-year bilateral development assistance commitments to Ukraine so far this year. Expediting and increasing support to Ukraine in the areas of advancing democracy and sustainable economic growth, Canada will have more than doubled its historical annual bilateral development support to Ukraine by the end of this year.

For more information on Canada’s response to the situation in Ukraine, please visit the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development’s web site: www.international.gc.ca.