Recent fighting highlights challenges facing aid agencies Published at 14:11
14:11
Imogen Foulkes
Report from Geneva
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has expressed concern over the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine following Kiev’s surprise incursion into Russian territory.
“Wherever military operations are taking place on either side, protecting civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law must be the top priority,” the spokesman said. That is what you would expect the UN to say, nothing more, nothing less.
The real question is: what can the UN and other agencies actually do to help civilians caught in the fighting inside Russia?
Since the conflict began, aid groups have had little to no access to Russian-occupied territories, and no access at all on the other side of the border within Russia.
Proposals for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to set up an office in southern Russia in 2022 have sparked furious protests in Ukraine, where many resent the idea of aid agencies operating in what they consider hostile territory.
UN human rights monitors are having great difficulty monitoring suspected violations in Russian-occupied territories, relying on testimonies from people who fled westwards into Ukrainian territory.
The ICRC has not fulfilled its mission of visiting all Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Russia.
The recent fighting has once again highlighted the challenges facing aid agencies, whose role is to provide neutral and impartial assistance to civilians, the wounded and prisoners, but in many of today’s conflicts they are unable to do so.