This report aims to provide a rapid assessment of the risks of trafficking and exploitation created by the war in Ukraine and the gaps in the current anti-trafficking response, in order to identify what needs to be done now to reduce and prevent trafficking before it is too late. This rapid assessment is based on desktop research; interviews/discussions with organisations, experts and participants in the anti-trafficking response including volunteers, translators, refugees, and displaced people; and a field visit to Poland.

The European Commission has proposed a “10-Point Plan for stronger European coordination on welcoming people fleeing the war from Ukraine” (endorsed by the European Parliament and the Council) that includes: creation of an EU platform for registration; an EU level coordinated approach for transport and information hubs; and a call to enhance reception systems and ensure continuity of care and suitable accommodation, among others.

This discussion paper addresses issues facing unaccompanied and separated children fleeing Ukraine and arriving in the European Union (EU). In particular, it focuses on the priority issue of how care and custodial arrangements and guardianship under child protection and migration measures are established within EU Member States. This question has implications for how children access protection, how information on their circumstances is managed and ultimately how durable solutions are identified and secured for children.

There were an estimated 100,000 children in Ukraine’s institutions before Russia’s war on Ukraine which began in February 2022.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the impact of the war against Ukraine on women on 5 May 2022.

Disability Rights International (DRI) published these recommendations in response to a visit to Ukraine’s institutions for children with disabilities in late April 2022. DRI visited three facilities for children aged six to adult, and one “baby” home for children from birth to age six.

DRI found that Ukraine’s children with disabilities with the greatest support needs are living in atrocious conditions – entirely overlooked by major international relief agencies and receiving little support from abroad. 

These advocacy messages have been developed to support advocacy efforts conducted by Alliance members and wider humanitarian actors responding to and working on the Ukraine crisis response. The global subgroup on Children's Care and Ukraine, which is co-led by the Alliance's Unaccompanied and Separated Children Task Force (UASC) and the Global Collaborative Platform on Transforming Children's Care, developed the messaging for the UASC section.

This new set of evidence-based parenting tips were developed in response to the war in Ukraine and focus on the prevention of child trafficking and child sexual violence.