Three Refugee UN Volunteers with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) responded to the urgent and longer-term needs of Ukrainian refugees who fled when the war started in Ukraine.
Olena Samoilova is a Ukrainian refugee who left her home with her family when the war started in February 2022. She found refuge in Hungary the following month.
Driven by empathy and sense of responsibility to support others, she volunteered at migration service centers shortly after she arrived in Hungary.
A few months later, Olena joined UNHCR as a UN Volunteer Refugee Field Assistant. Her tasks included assessing refugees' concerns and priorities along with organizing activities to access the job market and basic social services. Refugees receive health benefits, counseling, and cash assistance programmes — particularly persons with disabilities.
The most memorable moments were the shifts at the border with Ukraine. People arrived confused, some didn't realize what country they were in, and they didn't know what to do next. Many were in an extremely fragile emotional state.” Olena Samoilova, UN Volunteer with UNHCR Hungary.
On a personal level, volunteering gave Olena a sense of purpose and hope. “At the most difficult time in my life, volunteering gave me a routine and an important task.”
Kateryna Vyshnevska was based near the border with Ukraine and Slovakia. She is a UN Volunteer Protection Assistant at UNHCR’s Field Office in Kosice. She conducts border monitoring visits, focus group discussions, counseling, language interpretation, and data collection.
Language barriers impede refugees’ access to life-saving information, healthcare, and livelihood. This is why having native speakers at points of entry is so important. “Since I speak the same language as the refugees, they usually share their concerns with me comfortably,” says Kateryna.
Simultaneously, Kateryna helped the inclusion of refugees into local communities by developing vocational programmes and activities.
Similarly, Anastasiia Honcharenk supports UNHCR efforts in Slovakia. She is a UN Volunteer Protection Assistant based in Bratislava.
Anastasiia's main responsibilities include helping refugees get financial assistance, monitoring social media and content creation related to refugee policy, assisting community activities, and offering counseling guidance to refugees including persons with disabilities, senior citizens, and single mothers with children.
In collaboration with other UN Volunteers serving in UNHCR Slovakia, Anastasiia helped make UNHCR Slovakia Help Site more accessible for persons with disabilities by adding a text-to-speech plugin. This feature assists persons with visual impairments and dyslexia in accessing information without difficulties.
We share not only a common language but also experiences of displacement, uncertainty, and resilience. World Refugee Day is an opportunity to reaffirm to refugees that they are not alone. Together, we can work towards a world where every refugee is treated with dignity.” Anastasiia Honcharenk, UN Volunteer Protection Assistant with UNHCR Slovakia.
On World Refugee Day, the service of Refugee UN Volunteers is a reminder and a call to action — to stand in solidarity with refugees and a clear message that refugee rights are human rights.
After the war broke out in 2022, Ukrainians fled to neighboring countries. This increased the demand for refugee protection services and information centers. UNHCR responds to the urgent and longer-term needs of Ukrainian refugees with the support of United Nations Volunteers.
From protection and information management to livelihood and inclusion, 97 UN Volunteers have served with UNHCR in the Ukraine crisis response since 2022.
There are over 144,000 refugees seeking temporary protection in Slovakia and some 43,000 in Hungary, where UNHCR follows a community-based approach to include refugees in local communities.
As of May 2024, nearly 6.5 million people have fled Ukraine.