IOM Scales Up Response to Ukraine Crisis and Appeals for Inclusive Protection Measures

International Organization for Migration´s (IOM) teams in Poland

 are at the border ready to scale up assistance for people in need,

 including third-country nationals. Photo: IOM

Geneva – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is mobilizing teams and boosting capacity in Ukraine and neighbouring countries to respond to the growing humanitarian needs of Ukrainians forced to flee the country, those internally displaced, and stranded third country nationals.

According to initial figures from IOM teams in neighboring countries, at least 600,000 people fled Ukraine in the first five days following the start of military operations and the escalation in hostilities. 

The Organization’s number one priority is the safety and protection of all those fleeing the country - including third country nationals – and their ability to access assistance. It will also be crucial to screen for and assess potential short-term and longer-term vulnerabilities, including for human trafficking, child protection, health and mental health, and the arrival of more vulnerable people with special needs, including elderly, wounded or sick people.

Based on IOM estimates, there are over 470,000 third country nationals – many stranded – from various nationalities within Ukraine including a large number of overseas students and labour migrants.

At least 6,000 have arrived in Moldova and Slovakia alone.

Several States have already requested IOM’s assistance to help with the return of their nationals to Africa, the Middle East and Asia. More than 50 Tunisian nationals who crossed into Moldova are being assisted by IOM to relocate to Romania before they return home through a charter flight, in coordination with relevant authorities.

IOM welcomes the decision by several countries to take steps to support Ukrainian diaspora through visa extensions and appeals to States to grant protection and access to territory to all those who seek to leave the country, without discrimination.

IOM also welcomes the European Union (EU) discussions on granting Temporary Protection under the 2001 Directive to provide adequate protection and assistance to all those in need.  

The Organization has a large operational footprint and capacity across Ukraine and neighboring countries and is expanding its assistance to support governments in light of the increasing number of people fleeing the country and rising humanitarian needs.

In Luhansk, Ukraine, IOM provided much-needed core relief items on Sunday to civil society, and local government institutions to ensure continuity in aid delivery.

IOM in Poland is at the border to monitor and assess reception conditions and the most urgent needs of those arriving from Ukraine, specifically non-food items, mental health, protection, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and information provision. IOM is also working with various embassies to support the transportation of their nationals from the border to Warsaw and facilitate their return home and has set up an information and support hotline for persons fleeing Ukraine.

IOM is supporting Romania’s national emergency response effort by providing information to arriving Ukrainians and third country nationals through a purpose-built portal, in coordination with the Romanian government and “Code for Romania”. We are also assisting the government’s Emergency Response Unit to match pledges for food, non-food items and services from civil society and the general public with needs identified at border points and in reception shelters.

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Note:

IOM Hotline Numbers:

Ukraine: 527 (free from mobile phones), 0800505501 (free from landline phones)

Poland: +48 22 490 20 44

Romania: the online support platform dopomoha.ro (developed by Code4Romania with support from IOM Romania) is now live: https://romania.iom.int/news/online-platform-dopomoharo-developed-code4romania-support-iom-romania-now-live

Lithuania: +370 525 14352 is run by IOM's Migration Information Centre, also available through live chat on this website https://www.renkuosilietuva.lt/ru/

Slovakia: from abroad 00421 5263 0023, locally 0850 211 478, Telegram/Signal: 00421 908 767 853 (voice only) , https://www.mic.iom.sk/en/

 

For more information, please contact:

In Geneva: Safa Msehli, smsehli@iom.int

In Vienna: Joe Lowry, jlowry@iom.int

In Brussels: Ryan Schroeder, rschroeder@iom.int

 

Big Tech’s Russia problem

Social media companies are in a standoff with Russia on censorship and there’s no easy solution.

By Shirin Ghaffary  Feb 26, 2022

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with business leaders in Moscow, February 24, 2022

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 Alexei Nikolsky/TASS/via Getty Images

On Friday morning, as Russia continued its unprovoked attacks on Ukraine, its government also launched an assault on Facebook, announcing that it would begin “partially restricting” access to the social media network in Russia, where there are an estimated 70 million users, because Facebook allegedly restricted pro-Russian news sites. Later that day, Facebook pushed back, writing that “Russian authorities ordered us to stop the independent fact-checking and labeling of content” and that the company would continue to support ordinary Russians “using our app to express themselves and organize for action.” On Saturday morning, Twitter also confirmed that its app is being restricted for some people in Russia.

Now Facebook and Twitter find themselves in a predicament that’s become increasingly common for social media networks in certain countries: They’re facing the demands of an authoritarian government that’s pressuring them to censor content it doesn’t like, and to allow propaganda to run unchecked. If they don’t follow the Kremlin’s orders, they risk being booted off of the local internet entirely. In some cases, refusing could put some of their local employees at risk — in the past, the Russian government has threatened to arrest tech employees based in the country when disputing with their employers. These situations threaten to fracture the way people communicate across the world.

There’s no simple solution to such a standoff. For the people living under these governments, losing access to major social media platforms can cut off a key way they communicate and resist their own government and its propaganda. In Russia, for example, residents who oppose the invasion of Ukraine have been using Facebook, Twitter, and other major social media platforms to distribute news about the attacks and to coordinate anti-war actions and protests.

“I think we’re heading toward an inevitable break in the global internet,” said Emerson Brooking, a resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank who studies social media.

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Social media in the 2000s was developed under a vision of a shared, open, and global internet, which required major tech platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to largely follow the political speech rules of whatever countries they operated in. That meant that tech companies — particularly in places outside the US and Europe — sometimes took down politically controversial speech at the behest of government orders.

Last September, Apple and Google deleted a voting app created by supporters of Aleksei A. Navalny, the imprisoned Russian opposition leader, after the Russian government reportedly threatened to arrest the tech giants’ employees if the companies left the app up in their stores.

“In every case, it’s an implicit negotiation between companies and an authoritarian government,” Brooking told Recode.

But sometimes that implicit negotiation can break down, as it did last March when the Kremlin intentionally slowed down Twitter in Russia after warning social media platforms to take down content supporting Navalny after his arrest. We’re seeing these breakdowns happen more often.

A truly open, global internet never existed in China, where all US social media companies are officially banned under its “Great Firewall” that controls what citizens can access online. It no longer fully exists in India, where Twitter and Facebook have taken down content at the demand of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which began censoring political dissenters with increasing vigor during the pandemic. And now, it may not exist much longer in Russia, at a critical moment in global history.

What happens next in Russia may continue to splinter the open internet.

Why Russian restrictions on social media could stifle the anti-war movement

Some politicians and online speech experts say it’s important for mainstream social media platforms to try to continue operating in Russia, while still moderating blatant misinformation and restricting propaganda pushed by Russian state media. That’s because social media platforms are giving Russians who disagree with the Kremlin a way to make their voices heard, and they’re offering Russians a way to get information that Russia’s state-run media organizations won’t share.

Widely circulated tweets showed Russian protesters chanting against the war this week in Moscow. A popular St. Petersburg rapper canceled his concert and posted an anti-war message to his over 2 million Instagram followers on Thursday. And some children of Russian senior state officials and oligarchs have turned to Instagram to voice their opposition to the invasion.

“It’s always a balance to make sure that Russians who want the real story — or at least the story as we see it — still have access” to social media platforms, European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager told Recode on Friday. “But propaganda shouldn’t have a place.”

In the next few days, it’s expected that Russia’s government will continue circulating false and misleading claims to support the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Twitter, Google, and Facebook have all said they are increasing their efforts to remove videos that violate their policies. Twitter has temporarily paused its ads and some recommendations in Russia and Ukraine to prevent misinformation from spreading. Facebook announced on Friday it was prohibiting Russian state media from running ads. And YouTube told Recode that it’s evaluating whether new economic sanctions on Russia may impact what content is allowed on the platform. The video platform has faced criticism for allowing advertisers to run ads against Russian-backed state media outlet RT as it livestreams bombings in Ukraine.

It’s unclear if Russia will escalate its partial restrictions in response to Facebook’s continued refusal to stop moderating Russian media, or what exactly it will do to Twitter and YouTube.

Some internet security experts, social media researchers, and activists have advocated for US-based social media companies to cut off Russian state-funded media or state-run accounts, since that could weaken the Russian government’s ability to distribute propaganda.

“During the Cold War, we would never let Pravda publish in the United States,” said Jim Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Why are we letting the Russians do this?”

But for all the previously mentioned reasons, if tech companies further limit Russian state media and official government accounts, that could risk further retaliation by the Russian government.

All of this underscores how social media is a key battleground for global powers. It should come as no surprise that the Kremlin — which proved itself masterful at interfering with US politics using social media disinformation campaigns during the 2016 elections — is once again trying to manipulate the online public conversation in its favor.