Unifeed

UKRAINE / GRANDI

During his first trip to Ukraine, UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo Grandi urged safety nets for those really in need – the elderly, the disabled and the poorest. UNHCR
d1781719
Video Length
00:02:23
Production Date
Asset Language
Personal Subject
Subject Topical
Geographic Subject
MAMS Id
1781719
Parent Id
1781719
Alternate Title
unifeed161123c
Description

STORY: UKRAINE / GRANDI
TRT: 2:23
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 17 NOVEMBER 2016, MAYORSK CROSSING LINE, UKRAINE

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Shotlist

1 Close up, displaced Ukrainians waiting in line at the Mayorsk border crossing
2. Wide shot, displaced Ukrainians waiting in line at the Mayorsk border crossing
3. Wide shot, High Commissioner Filippo Grandi talks to displaced Ukrainians
4. Med shot, displaced Ukrainians are controlled by border guards of the Ukrainian government
5. Wide shot, displaced Ukrainians are ushered along a control post
6. Close up, stop sign at the Mayorsk border crossing
7. Close up, feet walking
8. Med shot, displaced Ukrainians waiting for a bus
9. Med shot, older displaced Ukrainian walking with her belongings
10. Med shot, displaced Ukrainians getting onto a bus on the Ukrainian side of Mayorsk border crossing
11. Wide shot, displaced Ukrainians moving line on border control post
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations (UNHCR):
“The civilians are very much trapped in the logic of this conflict. As always or as often they are the victims of all this.”
12. Med shot, Grandi walks into sanatorium
13. Various shots, Grandi speaking to disabled families
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations (UNHCR):
“We really need to work with the state to devise systems that can provide safety nets for those really in need – the elderly, the disabled and the most poor.”
15. Med shot, Grandi meeting 15-year-old Vlada, displaced by the war
16. UPSOUND (English) Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations (UNHCR):
“What would you like now more?”
17. UPSOUND (English) Vlada, 15-year-old displaced person:
“I’d like to go to school. It’s on the second floor.”
18. UPSOUND (English) Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations (UNHCR):
“It’s impossible.”
19. Various shots, Vlada learning mathematics with her teacher
20. Various shots, cars queuing and people waiting at crossing point

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Storyline

During his first trip to Ukraine, UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo Grandi urged safety nets for those really in need – the elderly, the disabled and the poorest.

Two and a half years of conflict have left more than two million Ukrainians displaced from their homes in other parts of the country or refugees in Russia.

It divided the country – into non-government controlled areas in the east, the Donbass region, and the majority of the territory under government control.

Mayorsk is one of a handful of crossing points where people can now go back and forth. It is a slow and tortuous process but each day several thousand cross over here.

The line-up’s are long in a cold, divided country.

“I’ve been in line for an hour,” this man tells UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

He says it will take him 5 hours to cross.

Mayorsk is one of a handful of crossing points between the government zone and the non-government controlled east.

The thousands going to the east are almost all displaced persons. They see relatives or check on their half-destroyed houses.

Those going the other way are hoping to collect their monthly pensions, only available in government-controlled territory.

SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations:
“The civilians are very much trapped in the logic of this conflict. As always or as often they are the victims of all this.”

Earlier Grandi met disabled people displaced by the conflict from their homes; some of 66,000 officially registered disabled who fled.

They now live in a disused soviet-era sanatorium in Sviatohirsk, in Northern Donetsk region.

They complained they had no hot water, because of huge unpaid water bills. The sanatoriums are no longer subsidized by the state.

SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations:
“We really need to work with the state to devise systems that can provide safety nets for those really in need – the elderly, the disabled and the most poor.”

Grandi also met Vlada, a 15-year-old with Spina Bifida. Her family fled the conflict two years ago. She learned English on her own.

UPSOUND (English) Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations:
“What would you like now more?”
UPSOUND (English) Vlada, 15 year old displaced person:
“I’d like to go to school. It’s on the second floor.”
UPSOUND (English) Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations:
“It’s impossible.”

The local school has no facilities for the disabled and she must learn in her room. Grandi told her he would see if that could be fixed.

In this frozen conflict, waits can be long. People hoping to cross in cars can sometimes wait a night or even two.

For many displaced people the wait to go home in peace may be much longer.

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