Attachments
2. Rationale
2.1 Background
The war between Russia and Ukraine began in 2014 and initially focused on the status of Crimea and Donbas. The conflict significantly expanded when Russia launched a full-scale invasion on Ukraine on 24 February 2022, causing Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II. Since then, more than 8.4 million refugees have reportedly fled Ukraine, with over 4.3 million refugees arriving in Poland. Till July 04, 1.19 million applied for PESEL (Personal Identification number) and received Temporary Protection status in the country, out of which 49% were women, 6% were men and 45% were children. The Temporary Protection Directive was invoked by European Commission on 03.03.2022 in response to the mass displacement caused by the conflict. In Poland it gives those who have fled Ukraine after the 24.02.2022 the right to 1 year of legal stay, legal work (without a need for work permit), free medical care and grants assistance through accommodation and meals or assistance in the form of a cash benefit.
Data collected by REACH between 28 February and 25 May indicated that 48% of respondents crossing the border to Poland considered it at their final intended destination; and 51% of those intended to stay in the country as long as the conflict in Ukraine continued.
The overwhelming majority of refugees are residing in the host community; however, little to no information is currently available to response actors regarding their demographic profile, household composition, geographical presence, vulnerabilities, humanitarian needs, movement intentions, or coping capacities. Even less information is available regarding the Collective Sites both in terms of numbers and in terms of HHs composition and their needs. As REACH Border Monitoring shows, only 7% of refugees intended to stay in accommodation provided by authorities. Similar results were reported in Wroclaw, where 8.6% interviewed refugees were residing in collective sites