NGOs mark one year since activation of the Temporary Protection Directive and call for continued support to refugees from Ukraine

On 4 March 2022, in the spirit of solidarity with the people of Ukraine, the Council of the European Union unanimously activated the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) – for the first time since it was adopted in 2001. This landmark decision has allowed millions of refugees from Ukraine immediate and collective access to protection, rights and essential services in the EU Member States. Nearly 4.9 million people, mostly women and children, have benefited from temporary protection or similar national schemes across Europe.

We, organizations providing assistance inside Ukraine, to refugees who have fled the country, and to host communities, welcome the activation of the TPD and all practical steps undertaken by the governments, along with civil society and citizens, to welcome and support refugees from Ukraine. Among others, this includes adapting and scaling up Member States’ reception capacities, providing public and privately-hosted accommodation, and introducing targeted financial assistance. Yet, ensuring all refugees from Ukraine enjoy the rights provided by the TPD has not been without challenges. We call on the EU and Member States to redouble efforts to ensure its effective, uniform and inclusive implementation by addressing the following issues:

• Address barriers to enjoyment of status and rights
• Protect children and ensure they are in school
• Protect non-Ukrainians, stateless people and Roma fleeing Ukraine
• Prevent backsliding of support
• Invest in refugee inclusion and longer-term solutions from the start
• Promote equal treatment of refugees

We call on EU Member States to:

• Ensure that all people fleeing Ukraine continue to have access to the territory of the EU, swift registration for temporary protection without facing additional administrative burdens, and information about temporary protection and rights it provides in relevant languages and accessible formats.
• Provide access to legal remedies, when registration for temporary protection is denied, and access to fair and well-resourced asylum procedures alongside the temporary protection for those who request it.
• Expand the capacity of national education systems, and strengthen the capacity of teachers to support the integration of students from different backgrounds. Ensure that refugees from Ukraine are aware of their right to access education in the local system.
• Strengthen the provision of mental health and psychosocial support services to refugees from Ukraine to enable them to overcome conflict-induced trauma.
• Guarantee that refugees receive support that addresses their immediate and longer-term needs through inclusion into national systems (such as healthcare, labor, education, social protection, etc.), tailored to identified vulnerabilities and empowering all refugees to make informed and voluntary decisions about their future.
• Ensure broad, inclusive and non-discriminatory application of the Temporary Protection Directive, in particular by extending its scope to all non-Ukrainians fleeing Ukraine who cannot safely return to their country of origin. Member States should ensure equal treatment for third country nationals eligible for temporary protection.
• Provide timely residence permits at least for the entire duration of the temporary protection regime to ensure additional security for the people concerned and to reduce the administrative burden on relevant government institutions.
• Protect people who return to Ukraine temporarily from deregistration of temporary protection and thus loss of status. Pendular movements should not impact people’s access to related rights and benefits.

We call on the European Commission to:

• Closely monitor and promptly address any issues with the implementation of the Temporary Protection Directive, as well as provide clear guidance on the most identified gaps and divergences (such as in relation to pendular movements, definitions of “short-term visit” and “voluntary returns”, and measures requiring temporary protection beneficiaries to cover their accommodation costs).
• Guarantee the availability of up-to-date statistics on the number of applications introduced, accepted, and refused, disaggregated by country of origin, nationality, age, and gender, for data-driven policy and decision-making.
• Extend the Temporary Protection Directive beyond 2024 and begin investing now in options for legal stay beyond 2025 to enable people to plan and have certainty about their futures. These options should be tailored to the needs of vulnerable groups and might include labour mobility schemes and long-term residence opportunities, in addition to well-resourced asylum systems capable of processing a future rise in applications.
• Ensure that durable solutions for displaced populations are placed at the center of Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction planning, in order to enable sustainable and voluntary returns and reintegration of refugees once the situation allows.