The Committee on Migration is alarmed at the humanitarian situation which is the consequence of the war in Eastern Ukraine and of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. According to the Committee, more than 4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. The armed conflict has taken the lives of more than 10 000 people. The number of people injured during the war has reached more than 24 000. Besides, more than 1.6 million people are internally displaced and almost half a million people are seeking asylum in other countries, most of them in the Russian Federation.
Adopting a draft resolution, based on the report prepared by Egidijus Vareikis (Lithuania, EPP/CD), the Committee called on all member States “to use their joint political efforts to put an end to this conflict and the sufferings of the civil population”. All sides of the war should “release and exchange all prisoners of war and people captured during the war”, respect the civilian nature of infrastructure and ensure the protection of civilians and their full access to essential services.
The adopted text calls on Russian authorities to cease all financial and military support to the illegal armed groups in the Donetsk and Luhansk region, ensure the respect of human rights and security of all the people living in annexed Crimea and ensure unhindered access to annexed Crimea to international organisations. The Ukrainian authorities should bring the Criminal Code in line with the provisions of international humanitarian law, adopt legislation on humanitarian demining actions and revise the Law on humanitarian assistance to facilitate the procedure of delivery of humanitarian assistance to the war affected territories.
The Parliamentary Assembly will debate the draft resolution at its next plenary session (Strasbourg, 22-26 January 2018).