Since the Ukrainian war began, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) he has visited hundreds of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners. One of the missions of the ICRC’s Central Tracing Agency is to connect captive soldiers and their families through, above all, handwritten letters. “We consider this work to restore family ties to be essential,” says Jesús Serrano Redondo, the ICRC’s Communications coordinator in Ukraine. “They write messages to the families and we send them and vice versa,” adds Serrano.
The usual messages are simple, but they have great power to comfort one another: “I am very happy to know that you are still alive”. “I can’t wait for you to come back and be together again.” “Tell him that his mother is waiting for him at home.” “The next time you see my husband, tell him that his son has been born.” These are some of the messages that the Red Cross regularly sends during the war. In so far this year, The organization has managed to contact 4,448 families and still has more than 7,000 cases of searching for relatives open.
“The fact of Being neutral allows us to go where others do not. and being able to cross the front lines and open humanitarian corridors by being present where people need it,” says Serrano, who arrived in Ukraine almost seven months ago. “We have access to prisoners of war thanks to the mandate granted by the Geneva conventions. We do not publicly share information, but if what we see about the situation of prisoners is not in accordance with international law, we deal with it bilaterally with the authorities. of the countries. We are not politically biased nor are we activists. That would make us lose the confidence of the authorities and lose access to the prisoners. It is essential for us to improve their living conditions”, explains the ICRC coordinator.
Serrano refers to the limits established by the Third Geneva Convention, signed by both Russia and Ukraine, according to which all prisoners have the right to humane treatment and may not be subjected to reprisals or torture. However, there is evidence that soldiers from both countries have been tortured and mistreated while in captivity. This was highlighted by the head of the UN Human Rights mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, by assuring that the vast majority of former Ukrainian prisoners of war returned in exchanges between Moscow and kyiv were beaten and sexually abused.
In recent months, numerous videos have come to light in which they appear Ukrainian and Russian soldiers summarily executed: “We are aware of those videos. What we ask is that the Geneva protocols be respected. Those prisoners who surrender and are put out of action must be treated as civilians. They cannot suffer reprisals or receive torture.”
From time to time, members of the International Committee of the Red Cross come to the front lines in eastern Ukraine to help the civilian population. A few days ago they went to deliver humanitarian aid to the towns of Kostiantynivka (where only 800 people remain) and Chasiv Yar (with 1,500 inhabitants), very close to Bakhmut. The humanitarian convoy brought more than 1,500 hygiene kits with essential items such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, sanitary napkins, as well as 800 solar lamps and hundreds of blankets for residents and displaced people to villages in the area.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has 800 people stationed in Ukraine working to alleviate the disasters of war. Many are in the eastern regions of Donetsk and lugansk and on other front lines. In the town of Selydove, a few days ago they delivered seventeen tons of food – rice, pasta, preserves and other products – and a ton of hygiene items. According to estimates by local officials, the products are enough for the civilian population that remains in this community to feed themselves for a month.
“We have just arrived from Bajmut”, explains Serrano in a telephone conversation. “People are afraid, rockets and bombs go over their heads. The situation is catastrophic, there is a lot of civil infrastructure destroyed and the population that remains is always the most vulnerable, the elderly, children and people with reduced mobility, many of them are displaced people who move from town to town. Their situation is extreme, they spend a lot of time in shelters with very little means.”
In the last aid mission, the Red Cross convoys approached 20 kilometers from Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, to deliver water and food, solar lamps, blankets and hygiene kits to the inhabitants of the area. “We saw a lot of destruction, people want to leave the area but they can’t. The situation is quite dramatic. The conflict evolves every moment. The situation, in my personal opinion, is not going to improve for the civilian population,” says Jesús Serrano.
One of the aspects that has most caught his attention is the resilience of the Ukrainian people: “They are suffering a lot, but they are always willing to share what little they have. In Bajmut they welcomed us with a smile and shared everything”.
Having been in dangerous destinations such as the Sahel and Haiti, Serrano assures that nothing is as harsh as what you have seen in the Ukraine. However, he calls for not losing sight of other conflicts: “The world has turned to Ukraine, that’s good, but we must remember that there are many other conflicts that are not as visible, there are many people suffering and support is needed so that those people have humanitarian access in conflicts in Africa and Asia”.
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