February 11, 2019
(KyivPost) The governments of Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland have announced
they will pledge some $14 million over the next three years to a UN project to
promote social cohesion and strengthen regional governance in eastern Ukraine. More than
10,300 people have died since fighting erupted in April 2014 in eastern Ukraine
between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. Thousands have been
wounded and more than 1.5 million people have been internally displaced. In a press
release on February 8 to announce the new initiative, the three states said the
“breakdown in trust” in the conflict-hit region “can only be overcome by job
creation, poverty alleviation, anti-corruption measures, law enforcement and
judicial reform, and the promotion of human rights.”
"The
trust of citizens in conflict-affected areas in governmental institutions will
improve and they will feel safer if administrative, law enforcement, and
security capacity are strengthened, and it becomes easier for them to access
justice and environmental protection. This project will help to support these
changes,” said Victor Munteanu, the manager of the UN’s Recovery and
Peacebuilding Program (RPP).
According
to the press release, Denmark has pledged to contribute more than $9 million;
Sweden $3 million; Switzerland $2 million. RPP has
addressed priority needs in eastern Ukraine since the armed conflict erupted in
the spring of 2014 after Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. According
to the UN, the RPP is aimed at strengthening community security and social
cohesion, supporting the economic recovery of conflict-affected communities. It
also works to further decentralize and reform the health-care system in
government-controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The RPP is
being implemented by four United Nations agencies and is supported by the
European Union, the European Investment Bank and the governments of Denmark,
the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Japan. Its total
budget for 2019-2022 is over $50 million.
Two men walk along the
main road through the village of Nikishino, Donetsk oblast, eastern Ukraine, on
April 21, 2015. Photo by AFP
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