All people deserve equal treatment and respect. As we look around the world today, however, failures to safeguard their basic human rights are evident. People are stripped of their dignity. Human rights are blatantly discarded.
Five years of conflict in eastern Ukraine have taken the lives of more than 13,000 citizens and divided a country, forcing 1.6 million people to flee while others remain in devastated areas, where their rights cannot be guaranteed or protected.
A 500 km-long ‘line of contact’ marks the boundary between the government-controlled areas and the separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine. This contact line includes territory that remains held by both sides referred to as the “gray zone”. Vulnerable populations — including those who are older, disabled, or chronically ill — have been left to survive in these devastated areas, which are impacted by shelling, with minimal access to services, and limited humanitarian aid. The region remains riddled with landmine contamination: for three consecutive years, there were more anti-vehicle mine incidents in this region than in any other place on earth.
For the inhabitants of the gray zone and those in the separatist-held areas, the only way to receive pensions, social benefits, medical care, or to withdraw money is by entering the government-controlled areas through one of five official checkpoints that report approximately 1.1 million crossings per month.
For many, it takes hours via transport on damaged roads before they arrive at poorly equipped checkpoints. These lack basic services such as access to water, medical assistance, and shelter. One checkpoint that covers an entire region only allows for pedestrian crossings over a dilapidated bridge. People often stand for hours in long lines enduring severe winter conditions or scorching summer weather. Temperatures are as low as -20C in the winter and up to +30C in the summer. Over half of the travelers are pensioners over the age of 60. Since the beginning of 2019, 20 health-related deaths have been reported at the checkpoints, exacerbated by the harsh conditions.
Older Ukrainians account for 30% of those affected by the conflict — the largest proportion of pensioners affected by any crisis throughout the world today. One in five older persons living along the line of contact reported experiences of violence and abuse, with 76% of these being women.
To confirm their status and receive their social assistance and pensions, people have to pass regular verifications in the government-controlled areas and obtain electronic permissions to cross the line. Thus, for people from the separatist-controlled areas and the gray zone, it is easier to visit the European Union than to travel within their homeland.
The Ukrainian government has enforced unnecessary bureaucratic procedures and restrictions that penalize vulnerable Ukrainian citizens who have been severely impacted by the crisis while imposing overwhelming financial, physical, and emotional risk.
These violations of #FreedomOfMovement are part of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and are another example of the disintegration of human rights globally. This could be happening anywhere
No matter where you are from, we all live on the frontline.
Photographs - Manu Brabo.
Idea, texts - Anna Akage.
