Action Against Hunger warns of the “high vulnerability” of refugees and says that “the worst is yet to come”

MADRID, March 23. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The NGO Action Against Hunger has warned of the “high vulnerability” that Ukrainian refugees face and lamented that “the worst is yet to come” given that there are already seven million internally displaced persons in the country .

The general director of the organization, Olivier Longué, has warned that the situation of those who cross the border is “ever worse”, lamented that “they arrive with what they are wearing and need psychological help”.

“The sociology of refugees is changing a lot, now we see people who come directly from conflict zones and who are in great need due to their physical and mental suffering. They are refugees who have fled with just what they were wearing, and many of them are older people with a very high vulnerability,” he said, according to a statement.

Data indicates that most of the more than 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees have crossed the border into Ukraine’s neighboring countries. About 2.1 million of them have gone to Poland, 543,000 to Romania and 367,000 to Moldova.

“My conviction is that the worst is yet to come,” Longué asserted before qualifying the displaced “they fear leaving the country because they don’t know where to go.” “A large part of the first wave of refugees fled to European Union countries taking advantage of the European free movement directive, but those who arrive now do not know what to do.”

In this sense, he stated that many seek “to stay close because they have left relatives in Ukraine and because they do not have resources, neither linguistic nor economic, to start a new life.” “This makes us fear that the number of refugees, which has been very well managed by Poland, Romania or Moldova, could quickly be saturated, because the conflict does not decrease,” she warned.

For her part, the coordinator of the Action Against Hunger emergency team, Janire Zulaika, pointed out that the NGO is strengthening collaboration with local organizations to better identify the needs of refugees.

“We are working with the municipalities in the border areas to deliver direct help to host families and refugees in terms of hygiene protection,” he explained.

Likewise, the organization has warned that access to cash is limited for refugee families. “Only those with an international bank account can access their savings and withdraw money in the local currency of Moldova. Normally, people who have to flee quickly and leave their homes arrive with very little cash, which limits their resources even more”, collects the text.

The organization has called for compliance with the basic principles of International Humanitarian Law and “to protect the civilian population from the direct and indirect impact of hostilities”.