With the war in Ukraine, Europe faces its biggest humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II. The world was already experiencing a massive global refugee crisis, but the invasion of Ukraine created a wave of refugees. Many neighbouring countries are now receiving huge numbers of arrivals. The number of Ukrainians who have fled the country is already estimated to exceed 2 million people, according to the UNHCR, and that number is soon estimated to go as high as 5 million. In addition to supporting humanitarian and diplomatic efforts, the size and speed of the Ukraine crisis increases the need for global solutions to the global refugee crisis.
We recommend public and private service organizations adopt a human-centred approach to alleviate the suffering of refugees and increase their well-being. As laid out in our recently published paper The Transformative Refugee Service Experience Framework (TRSEF), this framework is based on the logic that refugees should have “the human right to essential services”, with no discrimination based on their race, skin colour, religion, etc. Governments, policy-makers, public and private organizations, media and individuals worldwide should all work toward the goal of humanely meeting the essential needs of desperate refugees.