“Stand Up For Ukraine” Donor Conference “Yet Another Critical Moment in this Conflict” says World Vision
- World Vision is highly encouraged by the Global Citizen campaign in partnership with the European Commission, Canada and international artists Elton John, Madonna and Bono
- Fresh commitments from international community is desperately needed as humanitarian crisis continues to grow in Ukraine and neighbouring countries
- Humanitarian agency rapidly scaling up its crisis response for refugees and internally displaced Ukrainians
April 8, 2022 – Today as the European Commission and the Prime Minister of Canada co-host the “Stand up For Ukraine” event in Warsaw, World Vision is calling on governments, companies and other global citizens to continue to be generous as humanitarian needs continue to grow.
The aid agency is highly encouraged by the tremendous amount of goodwill being generated by Global Citizen’s social media campaign and the support of internationally recognized artists like Elton John, Madonna and Bono which will hopefully culminate in new financial commitments from the international community.
“This is yet another critical moment in this conflict,” says Eleanor Monbiot, Regional Leader, Middle East and Eastern Europe at World Vision. “The needs of Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people continue to grow and fresh financial commitments from the global community will need to continue to grow with it. With no end in sight for this conflict, ongoing generosity from governments, companies and everyday global citizens to support the most vulnerable children and their families is very much needed and so deeply appreciated.”
With the war expected to shift and concentrate in eastern Ukraine in the coming weeks, World Vision is deeply concerned about a new level of destructive intensity as experienced in the besieged city of Mariupol. This could lead to new waves of displacement and a heightened humanitarian crisis. Already, more than half of Ukraine’s 7.5 million children have been forced from their homes, and more than four million people have fled Ukraine.
The agency is also urging the international community to respond to the global aftershocks of this crisis, which may prove to be even more deadly for people beyond the sight of most, particularly for people who are living through chronic emergencies in places far beyond Europe, like Yemen and Afghanistan.
“Let’s all hope this event taps into the spirit of Live Aid from the 1980s which attracted an audience of 1.5 billion and raised tens of millions of dollars for the Ethiopia famine,” says Monbiot. “Quite a fitting parallel when you consider that the Ukraine conflict is pushing global hunger and the threat of widespread famine to new heights. When a substantial part of the world’s wheat supply and large amounts of the world’s corn, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer is taken out of the mix because of a drop in Ukrainian and Russian production, the cost of eating goes up for everyone.”
World Vision has been working in Ukraine and Romania since the first week of the crisis and is quickly scaling up its work to support children and their families with basic essentials and other critical services with the goal of reaching nearly 300,000 people in Romania, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia within the next few months.
For more information about the work World Vision is doing to support those affected by the crisis in Ukraine and support our efforts click below.
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For further information or to organise an interview, please contact: Leah Donoghue at leah_donoghue@wvi.org