Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Ukraine Humanitarian Support Act of 2022”.
Ukraine Humanitarian Support Act of 2022
A BILL
To authorize humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
Vladimir Putin has repeatedly threatened and violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia’s neighbors, including Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine to quash democratic movements in those countries and strengthen his own power.
In 2014, Russia invaded and has since occupied regions of Ukraine, including areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, after the Ukrainian people ousted, a corrupt and repressive President Viktor Yanukovych and expressed their clear desire to deepen their integration with the European Union.
On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation, led by Vladimir Putin, drastically escalated his invasion in Ukraine, resulting in a full-scale invasion by the Russian Armed Forces and causing massive displacement in the country and region that threatens to trigger a wider humanitarian crisis in Europe.
Vladimir Putin’s decision to escalate his invasion of Ukraine is being met with stiff Ukrainian resistance and transatlantic and international resolve to support Ukraine and hold Russia accountable.
The United States and its allies and partners around the globe provided every opportunity for a diplomatic resolution to this crisis to avoid unnecessary death and suffering.
Putin’s aggression in Ukraine threatens universal democratic ideals and transatlantic security.
According to Human Rights Watch and international monitors, the Russian Armed Forces have committed grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, including violations against children’s rights, the use of explosive weapons including cluster munitions in populated areas, and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, homes, and non-military infrastructure.
Adherence to the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols is essential to ensure humanitarian access and life-saving assistance can be maintained for civilian populations despite conflict.
As part of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Armed Forces, Vladimir Putin and Belarusian Alyaksandar Lukashenka have further cracked down domestically, including mass arrests, on any dissent on Russians and Belarusians who voice opposition to this war.
The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Armed Forces threatens Belarusian and Russian dissidents living in Ukraine as well as ethnic and LGBTQI+ minorities and other vulnerable groups.
Ukrainians have displayed immense bravery, courage, and resolve in standing up to protect democratic values and their sovereignty and resist illegal and unprovoked aggression from the Russian Armed Forces led by Putin.
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Armed Forces threatens to create a dire humanitarian crisis in Europe with secondary and tertiary impacts across the globe.
According to a rapid humanitarian needs assessment by the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in the next three months the conflict is projected to drive humanitarian needs for nearly 12 million people living in Ukraine at the time of the escalation, including a projected 6.7 million internally displaced persons within Ukraine, and as many as 4 million people in Ukraine projected to flee to neighboring countries for safety.
Prior to full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Armed Forces, around 1.4 million people had been internally displaced inside Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2014, and potentially millions more will be displaced in Ukraine already in dire need of assistance and survivors of eight years of violence and insecurity.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Armed Forces beginning in February of 2022 displaced roughly 1.5 million people living in Ukraine within the first two weeks, with millions more expected to flee or be internally displaced.
Ukraine’s neighbors (Moldova, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania) have welcomed and provided immediate and unconditional support close to two million Ukrainian refugees.
Humanitarian efforts will be required across sectors to address the needs of refugees and internally displaced persons from Ukraine will require including shelter, protection, nutrition and food security, emergency telecommunications, logistics, education, as well as water, sanitation and hygiene.
Humanitarian assistance efforts should take into account the gender, age, disability makeup of refugees and others in need of humanitarian assistance to ensure adequate supplies of appropriate assistance including protection needs and services.
Humanitarian assistance should take into account the provision of mental health and psycho-social support to crisis affected populations with specific provisions for the needs of children.
In addition, the needs of the immediate humanitarian crisis, the further invasion and destruction of Ukraine by Russian Armed Forces will have secondary and tertiary effects for ongoing humanitarian crises around the world, including exacerbating food insecurity and disrupting global agricultural markets given Ukraine’s historical wheat production.
Ukraine is a primary source of grain and corn exports for the Middle East and Africa, which are already grappling with hunger issues, food shortages, and price increases.
The further invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Armed Forces will prevent farmers from fertilizing and replanting their crops, which will affect output of production in the next harvest cycle, lower their total exports, and create further implication for global food security in the years to come.
Many families who have fled Ukraine have lost their homes and their livelihoods and, thus, although emerging survey data suggest the majority would like to return home, it is more likely that many will have to stay in third countries for an extended time as the situation in Ukraine stabilizes and critical infrastructure, communities, and homes are rebuilt.
The majority of these refugees are women and children, and the children will need access to language courses, education, and educational services while seeking refuge in a third country.
On March 3, 2022, the Biden Administration, with the strong support of Congress, extended Temporary Protected Status for thousands of Ukrainians in the United States.
Sec. 3 Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that the United States should—
continue its strong support for the Ukrainian people and their desire to live in a democratic, independent country;
continue to provide assistance to meet humanitarian, security, and other needs in Ukraine;
continue strong engagement with United States allies and partners to represent a strong and united response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russian Armed Forces;
continue to work with such allies and partners to support the Ukrainian government in achieving a durable political solution to the crisis;
leverage diplomatic relations with such allies and partners to guarantee access and the delivery and provision of humanitarian assistance to crisis-affected populations in Ukraine and in refugee hosting countries;
leverage international partnerships and U.S. representation at international forums such as the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to encourage safe passage of vulnerable displaced persons to areas not in or under Russian control and secure humanitarian space and principled humanitarian action within and outside Ukraine;
support efforts to document and publicize gross violations of internationally recognized human rights and international humanitarian law committed during the invasion of Ukraine by Russian Armed Forces, including violations against children;
ensure funding can be used to support critical training, capacity, and direction activities for robust civil society and citizen monitoring and evidence collection of potential violations of international human rights perpetrated against crisis-affected children and other civilians as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, and ensure resourcing and capacity for effective reporting mechanisms to hold perpetrators of grave violations against children and other persons accountable;
leverage international partnerships and United States representation at international forums such as the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation demand justice for gross violations of human rights and potential war crimes committed by the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine;
support allies and partners, such host countries in the region, including Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland, in building with humanitarian assistance support and capacity for asylum processing, refugee reception, and assistance programs;
work with Ukrainian authorities, United Nations entities, the European Union and European allies, implementing partners, and others to ensure unimpeded access and delivery of humanitarian assistance within Ukraine;
ensure all humanitarian assistance remains flexible to meet the needs of the evolving humanitarian situation in Ukraine and the region, including recognizing and addressing the secondary and tertiary effects of this conflict on humanitarian crises around the world;
work with international partners, such as the United National High Commissioner for Refugees, to ensure that refugees fleeing violence in Ukraine, including children unaccompanied or separated from their parents or caregivers, are able to access necessary legal assistance and essential services;
support efforts to provide primary, secondary, and tertiary education for displaced children and youth whose education has been disrupted by the further invasion of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine, including refugee and internally displaced children and youth, and children and youth whose schools have closed due to the conflict; and
work with international partners to build the capacity of implementers and national authorities, to provide essential services and prepare for recovery responses.
Sec. 4 Authorization of immediate assistance to address humanitarian crisis created by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Armed Forces
The Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development may provide humanitarian assistance, and take additional support measures, to address the urgent needs of Ukrainians fleeing Ukraine and those internally displaced within Ukraine. Such humanitarian assistance may include, as appropriate, the following:
Emergency food and non-food commodities.
Staff and enabling mechanisms for disaster assistance response teams, including gender and child protection experts.
Support for the medical needs and medicines to address the medial needs of refugees and internally displaced persons.
Protection services, including against gender-based violence and specialized programming to protect women and girls.
Water, sanitation, and hygiene supplies and services, with an emphasis on the provision of such supplies and services necessary for the demographics of refugees and internally displaced persons.
Necessary supplies and services to meet the distinct needs of children affected by the full scale of invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Armed Forces, including the following:
Critical protection services that are responsive to protection risks and driven by age, gender, and disability status.
Safe spaces for children and families immediately following border crossing and expanding the capacity of emergency care arrangements for unaccompanied and separated children as well as family tracing and reunification.
Family tracing and reunification services for unaccompanied and separated children.
Child-focused immunization and nutrition services.
Services for pregnant and lactating mothers.
Maternal and newborn health services and information.
The adaptation and expansion of transition initiatives that promote stabilization and early recovery.
Early recovery assistance, including preparations for educational services and continued learning opportunities, to be furnished during the first phase of response activities, for children of all ages, genders, and disability statuses.
Sec. 5 Strategy to meet humanitarian need in Ukraine and surrounding region as a result of further invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Armed Forces
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a strategy on the following:
How the United States, working with foreign governments and multilateral organizations determined relevant by the Secretary, may address the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and the region around Ukraine as a result of the further invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Armed Forces.
How the United States may encourage, through diplomatic efforts, strategic burden-sharing and the coordination of donations with international donors, including foreign governments and multilateral organizations, to advance the provision of humanitarian assistance to individuals fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.
How the United States may mitigate risk, utilize third-party monitors, and ensure the effective delivery of such assistance.
How the United States may address humanitarian access challenges and ensure protection for vulnerable refugees and migrants from Ukraine.
Sec. 6 Reports to Congress on humanitarian assistance provided to address needs of Ukrainians
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every year thereafter, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the heads of such other Federal departments and agencies as the Secretary may determine appropriate, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that provides a detailed summary of the humanitarian assistance provided pursuant to section 4.
Sec. 7 Authorization of appropriations
There is authorized to be appropriated not less than $8,000,000,000 for humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.