Report Launch: "Not a single safe place"

“Not a single safe place”: The Ukrainian refugees at risk of violence

We are pleased to invite you to an online launch of report: “Not a single safe place”: The Ukrainian refugees at risk of violence, trafficking and exploitation, which sets out the findings from a research study in Poland and Ukraine looking at the experiences of violence, trafficking and exploitation among Ukrainian refugees in war, transit and refuge. The project extends SEREDA Project (Sexual and gender based violence in the refugee crisis: from displacement to arrival) to Central and Eastern Europe. We would be pleased for you to be part of this discussion as we share our findings.

In May and June 2022, the research team interviewed 46 respondents (Ukrainians in Poland and Ukraine and service providers in Poland) to understand the risks, experiences and awareness of GBV and trafficking in Poland and Ukraine and examined the ways in which survivors could be better protected and supported in both transit and settlement.

The University of Birmingham has led the project in collaboration with community-based researchers from Convictus (NGO) in Ukraine and Poland.

The report points to complex interactions between violence, displacement, humanitarian and migration systems and continued experiences and risks of violence and exploitation in internal displacement in Ukraine and across refugee journeys and settlement experiences in Poland. The combined experiences of being forcibly displaced, war violence and other forms of abuse generate traumas with potentially lasting consequences.

In the launch, the project team will hold a panel discussion to share cross-country and country-specific findings from Poland and Ukraine. The panellists will also identify next steps for supporting survivors on the move and in countries of refuge in the context of large-scale feminised displacement.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Dr Sandra Pertek from the SEREDA CEE team (s.m.pertek.1@bham.ac.uk). We look forward to seeing you on 16 November.

Speakers

• Dr Sandra Pertek, Dr Irina Kuznetsova and Malgorzata Kot
  SEREDA CEE Team University of Birmingham
  Ukrainian refugees at risk: gender-based violence, trafficking and exploitation (SEREDA CEE)