Photo: Christopher Furlong / Getty Images
By: EFE Updated 08 Sea 2022 , 17: 33 pm EST
The European Commission warned this Tuesday of the possibilities that refugee minors who leave Ukraine could fall into hands of human trafficking mafias and asked to “do more” to protect the children fleeing the war in their country.
“There are criminals who try to use this situation that use to unaccompanied minors, who try to sell them, to traffic with them. We have to do more to protect children”, emphasized the European Commissioner for the Interior, Ylva Johansson, at a press conference in the European Parliament, to break down community aid to Ukrainian refugees.
According to Johansson, refugees who have left Ukraine rise to more than 2 million, of which one million have arrived in Poland and 500,000 to Romania, and of all of them, he indicated, “half may be children. Russian President Vladimir “Putin is not going to stop. There is a huge risk that the situation will get worse, ”she warned.
During a previous debate in the European Parliament, Johansson insisted that one derivative of the conflict that she is exceptionally concerned about are minors who have arrived in the European Union from Ukraine.
“These children have to go to school, they need a certain normality urgently” , requested the commissioner, who especially urged to offer support to the most vulnerable, among the minors unaccompanied by their relatives who can fall into criminal networks and become victims of trafficking .
“There are criminals who are taking orphans out of Ukraine, c They cross borders saying they are their relatives and then they use them for human trafficking. We are obliged to protect these children and we have to do much more than we have done so far,” the Swedish politician warned.
For his part, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, warned about the extreme situation in which Ukrainian civilians trapped in urban areas have been living for days without water or electricity, and denounced “ massive violations of international humanitarian law perpetrated by the aggressor, the Russian army”.
The Commission had already announced that it will allocate 500 million euros of the community budget for deal with the humanitarian consequences of the war, both within and outside Ukraine. He specified that, of that amount, 90 millions of euros will be for humanitarian aid (85 million for Ukraine and another 5 for Moldova) yya are underway to supply; food, water, health care and shelter, to help meet the basic needs of the most vulnerable.
He explained that, through the greater activation of the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union in response to an emergency, millions of items, including first aid kits, tents, blankets and sleeping bags, have already reached the needy in Ukraine
while more aid is delivered to the neighboring countries of Moldova, Poland and Slovakia, to support all those who arrive fleeing the war. 2020
In addition, the Commission has published guidelines to help Member States’ border guards effectively manage arrivals at the borders with Ukraine and reduce waiting times, while maintaining a high level of security.
The EU has also activated the Temporary Protection Directive for offer the needy rights to social assistance, access to the labor market and education. The Commission will coordinate a “solidarity platform” in which the Member States will be able to exchange information on reception capacity.
Furthermore, the EC proposes extend the period of application of the funds available to the Member States from the Home Affairs item of the previous Community budget (1200- 2014), which would release some 420 million euros of additional aid.
2020
Furthermore, the Commission announced the creation of a specific European system for the rapid transfer of refugees and displaced persons in need of medical care between EU Member States. The objective is that the health systems of the countries bordering Ukraine are not overwhelmed.
The Commission reported that thanks to the solidarity of the Member States, it already has 10, available beds, while the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union is prepared to help channel the transfer of patients.
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