30/05/2024 Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
Since the start of Russia's war of aggression on 24 February 2022, millions of Ukrainians have left their homes to seek refuge. According to the UNHCR, two years later more than 5.9 million Ukrainian citizens have taken refuge in Europe, and more than 500,000 have moved outside Europe. There are also around 5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine.
Underlining the importance of maintaining "a people-centred approach to policy-making in times of crisis", PACE's Migration Committee called on European states to extend the duration of the temporary protection initially agreed, or to open up new avenues to "ensure a regular and legally secure presence of people from Ukraine on their territory and facilitate the access of asylum seekers to available rights".
The draft resolution adopted, based on a report prepared by Lise Selnes (Norway, SOC), lists a series of measures to assist internally displaced people in Ukraine, including the rapid provision of humanitarian aid "with a particular emphasis on the needs of internally displaced children and their families".
With regard to persons displaced outside Ukraine who benefit from temporary protection in Europe, the committee called on EU member states to grant Ukrainians benefiting from such temporary protection "a permanent right of residence in the host country after a three-year period of residence".
The adopted text calls for the release of persons forcibly displaced or expelled to Russia and Belarus, and underlines the need to strengthen co-operation between the various parties and mechanisms to assist the return of forcibly displaced children. "Interventions by third parties can offer guarantees of impartiality and effectiveness", the draft resolution underlined.