The initial reception of Ukrainian refugees to the EU after the Russian invasion went smoothly and efficiently. The provision of basic services, on the other hand, faces significant limitations, according to a Caritas Europe report published on Tuesday (June 6).
Many member states struggle to secure access to housing, employment, health, social care and education, despite these services being the focus of the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive.
The ‘EU Directive on Temporary Protection’ regulates access to basic needs such as housing, health, work, education and social assistance in the event of a massive influx of refugees. The policy was adopted in the early 2000s, but was first activated in March 2022, a few days after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th.
Since then, around 8 million people have fled Ukraine to EU member states, while around 5 million have benefited from the ‘EU Temporary Protection Scheme’ and similar measures at the national level.
In its report, Caritas, an association of Catholic humanitarian aid organizations, assesses the situation of Ukrainian refugees in the first year of protection and notes positively that Ukraine’s neighboring countries, in particular, have reacted promptly to the situation. “The registration of applicants for temporary protection was smooth, efficient and quick, especially compared to the registration of asylum seekers, despite the large number of arrivals”, says the report.
However, administrative and practical obstacles and certain forms of discrimination were also identified. For example, stateless people from Ukraine who do not have a valid passport face difficulties in obtaining temporary protection. It was argued that “structural discrimination against Roma” often prevents them from accessing the programme.
“It is also interesting to note that in several countries the reasons for denial of temporary protection are not transparent,” the report says.
housing availability
Affordable housing is becoming increasingly scarce in large parts of Europe due to rising inflation. Access to social housing is also reduced due to the lack of housing provided by national governments.
Refugees from Ukraine are also affected by these problems, who find temporary accommodation but later have difficulty finding their own affordable housing.
In several Member States, permanent residence is the minimum requirement for access to health, labor market, social and other benefits provided for in the “Temporary Protection Directive”.
The Caritas report criticizes the “lack of long-term planning by the State, since the transition to independent housing is not guaranteed and people are left to their own devices, navigating an often saturated housing market system and costly and administrative and linguistic barriers need to be overcome.”
Health
“In theory, people under temporary protection should have access to health care, but in practice, access to public health services is often difficult and restricted in many countries, making emergency services the only way to get care” , says the report. He also notes that administrative and language barriers can prevent Ukrainians from benefiting from healthcare systems.
Many national health systems are also struggling due to a shortage of medical professionals.
educational opportunities
Furthermore, many children in Ukraine have had problems accessing educational institutions since the beginning of the war. The reasons for this are “lack of places in schools, lack of teachers, administrative difficulties in enrolling in school, language barriers, long distances to schools and changing schools in connection with moving to other places”, informs Caritas.
At the start of the 2022/2023 school year, around 500,000 Ukrainian children were enrolled in schools in the 27 EU member states, according to the European Commission.
UNICEF estimates that around 3.9 million registered refugees in Europe are children.
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job market prospects
Although the ‘Temporary Protection Act’ allows access to the labor market without the need to apply for a work permit, numerous barriers to employment have been identified, especially for women whose partners have fallen behind in Ukraine.
These vulnerabilities, combined with “the need to earn a wage quickly and a lack of awareness of workers’ rights, can force them to accept jobs with exploitative working conditions, low wages and insufficient short-term contracts to cover the costs of meet their housing and other needs,” warns Caritas.
retouching
The report contains a series of final recommendations for both the EU and national institutions. In particular, Caritas urges the European Commission to “prepare a proposed Council Implementation Decision to extend the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) until March 2025 and seek a coordinated transition of the TPD after 2025”.
A set of recommendations is dedicated to the implementation of the Member States’ reception system, with Caritas calling to fill the lack of resources at local and national level.
(Edited by Benjamin Fox/Alice Taylor/Silvia Ellena/Kjeld Neubert)