Ukraine War: UN Asks UK Government to Stop Exploitation of Women Ukrainian Refugees

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, April 13: While Russia and the United States kept the horns locked over “genocide” in war-ravaged Ukraine and France refusing to join the US camp on the issue on Wednesday, the United Nations has told the United Kingdom government to ensure stoppage of exploitation of the unwilling Ukrainian women war refugees from being matched with British single men.

“The UK government must do more to prevent Ukrainian women and children fleeing the war from being matched with single British men under the country’s sponsorship scheme”, the UN said. The development came amid reports that some predatory single men were using the “Homes for Ukraine scheme” of the UK government to target the vulnerable women. The UN’s refugee agency UNHCR has called for a “more appropriate matching process” for those who want to offer a shelter for the refugees, the UK media reports said.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees wants women and those with children are matched with families of couples. The visa scheme, which was launched on March 18, allows the British people to host Ukrainians coming to the country with no family links. Such members of the public are paid 350 pounds for hosting the refugees. So far, more than 200,000 people have registered their interest in hosting Ukrainian refugees.

Under the UK government-backed matching service, those who want to move to UK must have a sponsor before applying for a visa. The Ukrainian women started to advertise themselves on social media platforms in a bid to find a home but that threw up a lot of issues. The UNHCR has highlighted a need to having adequate safeguard and vetting measures so that exploitation of Ukrainian refugees leading to a sort of women trafficking and abuse of the refugees could be stopped.

Meanwhile, Russia and the US kept accusing each other over the Russian army allegedly committing “genocide” in the war-ravaged Ukrainian towns. To the US president Joe Biden’s reiteration on Tuesday that the Russian forces were committing “genocide,” Russia on Wednesday repeated that it “categorically disagrees” with US President’s description of Russian invasion of Ukraine as “Genocide.”

“Statements such as these are unacceptable from the President of the United States, whose own country has committed high profile crimes in recent history,” the statement read. The French President Emmanuel Macron, however, refused to term Russia’s offensive in Ukraine ‘genocide’ and said the people of both countries were fraternal. “I would be discreet with terms today… Russians and Ukrainians are fraternal peoples. What is happening is madness, this is a return to war in Europe; but, at the same time, I am looking at the facts, I want to try as much as possible to stop this war and restore peace,” Macron said.

“I would say that Russia unilaterally unleashed the most brutal war, that it is now established that war crimes were committed by the Russian army and that it is now necessary to find those responsible and make them face justice,” Macron said and added it was best to be careful with terminology on genocide in this situation. The French president also said he was planning to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and possibly with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin soon.

Zelensky on Wednesday addressed the Estonian parliament and said Ukraine should get “EU candidate” status. Zelensky, who has already spoken to more than a dozen assemblies – including the US Congress, the British parliament and the European Parliament, via video conferencing also asserted that Russia can only be stopped by “acting together”.  In his address, Zelensky also informed the parliament about Russia use of Phosphorus bomb against the Ukrainian forces. Meanwhile, the Russian defence ministry said that 1,026 soldiers of Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade surrendered in the city of Mariupol.

The Czech Republic on Wednesday re-opened its embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine. Earlier in the day, Czech diplomats had returned to the embassy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The embassy had been closed since the beginning of the Russian invasion in late February.

Russia on Wednesday told Ukraine to “watch out” after its former Soviet neighbour captured pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk, turning down Kyiv’s offer of a swap with a warning that those holding him might soon be detained themselves. Medvedchuk, one of President Vladimir Putin’s close allies in Ukraine, was shown handcuffed and wearing the uniform of a Ukrainian soldier on Tuesday in a picture tweeted by Zelensky. Zelensky proposed swapping Medvedchuk, while Ukraine’s SBU domestic security service cast him as a traitor whose future would be in shackles.

“Those freaks who call themselves the Ukrainian authorities say that they want to beat testimony out of Viktor Medvedchuk, ‘quickly and fairly’, convict him, and then exchange him for prisoners,” Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said. “These people should watch out and lock the doors well at night to make sure they do not become the people who are going to be exchanged themselves,” said Medvedev, a close Putin ally who served as Russian president from 2008 to 2012.

Meanwhile, in Bengaluru Infosys Ltd said on Wednesday it was moving its business out of Russia and was pursuing alternate options against the backdrop of the Ukraine conflict. Several other global IT and software players including Oracle Corp and SAP SE have either suspended or paused all operations in Russia.

“Seeing the situation we have started the transition of our business and all of our work from the centres from Russia to outside Russia,” Infosys CEO and Managing Director Salil Parekh said while replying to a question on the impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis on the company’s business in Russia. Parekh, who was speaking to media after declaring the company’s March quarter financial results, said Infosys has less than 100 employees in Russia.

“We don’t have clients in Russia. The work we do in Russia is for the global clients, which we have started a transition. At this stage we have no impact on our business from an Infosys perspective,” he said. However, he said the company is very concerned about the development in the region. He said the company would help its employees in Russia to relocate and work in other geographies, especially in East Europe.