{"id":74010,"date":"2017-03-11T11:03:08","date_gmt":"2017-03-11T11:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/?p=74010"},"modified":"2017-03-11T11:03:08","modified_gmt":"2017-03-11T11:03:08","slug":"out-of-sight-out-of-mind-humanitarian-crisis-worsens-in-ukraine-as-world-focuses-on-syria-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/out-of-sight-out-of-mind-humanitarian-crisis-worsens-in-ukraine-as-world-focuses-on-syria-iraq.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Out of sight, out of mind&#8217;: Humanitarian crisis worsens in Ukraine as world focuses on Syria, Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span>Canada extended its military training mission in Ukraine this week, but the country needs more help to help ease the escalating humanitarian crisis, say an MP and a human rights advocate who just returned from the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Ontario Conservative MP Tony Clement travelled to\u00a0Kyiv last week to meet with government officials and others and was surprised to learn of the huge scale of the crisis caused by the\u00a0four-year conflict.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;This is a hot war, not a cold war, in Eastern Ukraine,&#8221; Clement told CBC News. &#8220;There are casualties every day, soldiers and civilians. A lot of the world&#8217;s attention is focused on Mosul, Syria and Iraq, but this war is a war, as well, and there are many people affected.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>According to UN figures, at least 10,000 people have been killed, including 2,000 civilians, and another 23,000 injured in the fighting between the Ukrainian military and the combined Russian-separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine. Another estimated two\u00a0million people have been affected, many of whom\u00a0were forced to flee their homes and are now living with<a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"> limited access to water, food, heat and electricity.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Calling the situation &#8220;dire,&#8221; Clement said Ukraine is no longer front of mind for most Canadians and others in the West, even though it&#8217;s a war taking place within Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><span>Canada extends military mission in Ukraine<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><span>Ukraine headed for protracted war<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Renewed fighting in Ukraine pushes town to brink<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>&#8220;I think that&#8217;s the way Putin wants it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This is where it gets very dangerous for the sovereignty of Ukraine and the order in Europe, which, of course,\u00a0Putin wants to disrupt. So, it fits in to his geopolitical game.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Clement hopes to meet\u00a0with Foreign Affairs Minister Chystia Freeland to relay his findings and make recommendations on how Canada could best help.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;A heartbreaking situation&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p><span>While the needs are great both for immediate\u00a0supplies and long-term\u00a0institution-building, he said rampant corruption is a huge barrier. Many civilians are left without health and social services as the Ukraine government spends its limited funds on weapons and ammunition to fight the Russia-backed rebels in the east of the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The war in Eastern Ukraine began in early spring of 2014\u00a0after the popular uprising that ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Soon after Russia\u00a0<a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">annexed Ukraine&#8217;s Crimean peninsula<\/a>\u00a0in March of that year, it began sending troops and military equipment across the border\u00a0into Eastern Ukraine to support\u00a0pro-Russia\u00a0separatists in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/79224_majed-el-shafie.JPG\" alt=\"Majed El Shafie\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">Majed El Shafie, founder of the non-governmental organization One Free World International walks amid the rubble of a former school in Slovyansk, Eastern Ukraine, that was attacked by rockets in 2014. (Submitted by Majed El Shafie)<\/p>\n<p><span>Clement and Saskatchewan Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall travelled to see the impact\u00a0of the conflict as observers\u00a0with the non-governmental organization One Free World International.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote\"><p>\n <span class=\"pullquote-quotation\">&#8216;The sad reality is that nobody cares\u00a0about Ukraine\u00a0any more.&#8217;<\/span><br \/>\n <cite class=\"pullquote-source\">&#8211; <span class=\"scayt-misspell-word\">Majed<\/span>\u00a0El <span class=\"scayt-misspell-word\">Shafie<\/span>,\u00a0One Free World International<\/cite>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Founder and president Majed\u00a0El Shafie said the trip&#8217;s goal was to raise awareness within\u00a0Parliament and among the public about escalating violence and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;The sad reality is that nobody cares about Ukraine any more,&#8221; he said in an interview. &#8220;Ukraine only comes when there is a conflict [reported]\u00a0in the media. The truth and reality is that everybody is focused on the Middle East, and nobody cares about the refugees in Ukraine, and they are in a very desperate situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;It&#8217;s a heartbreaking situation, and for the Western media, it&#8217;s out of sight, out of mind.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span>Corruption diverting aid<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span>El Shafie said making sure much-needed aid reaches the people\u00a0instead of the black market is a challenge because of widespread corruption.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Since the onset of the crisis, Canada has provided more than $27 million in humanitarian assistance funding to help those affected by the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. <\/span><\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/79224_ukraine-crisis.jpg\" alt=\"UKRAINE-CRISIS\/\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">A member of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People&#8217;s Republic forces, who support a separation from Ukraine, inspects a building damaged during battles with Ukrainian armed forces in Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine, on Feb. 23, 2017. (Alexander Ermochenko\/Reuters)<\/p>\n<p>A government official told CBC that the funding goes toward<span>\u00a0things such as &#8220;emergency basic health services, food assistance, protection services, emergency shelters and essential relief items.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;We continue to monitor the situation to ensure humanitarian needs are met, and we remain prepared to respond further, as appropriate,&#8221; the official\u00a0said.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Residents in Eastern Ukraine shell shocked from renewed fighting<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><strong>Canadian doctors rebuild bodies shattered by war in Ukraine<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>El Shafie said some people he spoke with in Ukraine consider Canada to be in a much better position to help\u00a0than the U.S. because of the suspicions around the U.S. administration&#8217;s <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">alleged communication with and possible ties to Russia<\/a>. Ukrainians are feeling increasingly more distant\u00a0from the West, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span>Extending military mission<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span>Freeland and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced this week that Canada&#8217;s military training mission in Ukraine will extend to March 2019. The UNIFIER operation is providing military instruction and capacity building and\u00a0helping with\u00a0small team training, explosive ordnance disposal, military policing, medical training and modernizing logistics.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Ukraine looks to Canada to help modernize military&#8217;s &#8216;Soviet mentality&#8217;<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><span><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Trudeau cabinet expected to debate renewed Ukraine mission<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) wrapped up his own\u00a0five-day visit to Ukraine Friday, and expressed &#8220;alarm&#8221; with the living conditions of large masses of people affected by the fighting in the east. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;Hundreds of thousands of people are living under the perpetual threat of shelling, shooting, and landmines,&#8221; Maurer said in a statement. &#8220;Their access to basics like food, water and electrical power has been dramatically curtailed.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Donetsk water filtration station, which tens of thousands of people depend\u00a0on, has been repeatedly disrupted because of the fighting. He repeated the ICRC&#8217;s call to establish a series of safe zones to better protect critical water, gas and electricity installations on the front line.<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/79224_ukraine-crisis-trudeau.jpg\" alt=\"UKRAINE-CRISIS\/TRUDEAU\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">Canadian military instructors and Ukrainian servicemen take part in a military exercise at the International Peacekeeping and Security Centre in Yavoriv, Ukraine, on July 12, 2016. Canada&#8217;s military training mission in Ukraine will extend to March 2019. (Gleb Garanich\/Reuters)<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p \/>\n<p>Article source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/ukraine-humanitarian-crisis-deepens-clement-1.4019601?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Canada extended its military training mission in Ukraine this week, but the country needs more help to help ease the escalating humanitarian crisis, say an MP and a human rights advocate who just returned from the country. Ontario Conservative MP Tony Clement travelled to\u00a0Kyiv last week to meet with government officials and others and was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-74010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}