June update on our response to the crisis in Ukraine

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February, we have been in constant contact with our grantees in the country and others directly affected. Our Chair wrote to all grantees directly affected, and made additional funds available for emergency grants.

To date we have made 34 emergency grants, totaling £2,617,900. We continue to explore needs for additional support and expect to make further emergency grants in the coming days.

Some of the latest grants we have made are detailed below:

Arts Programme

MOCA (NGO Museum of Contemporary Art), Ukraine: £20,000 towards to contribute to MOCA’s Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund, supporting artists and cultural professionals, work being produced in the war context, and medium term planning for rebuilding Ukraine’s cultural sphere after the war

Office for Post Artistic Services, Poland: £15,000 to an existing grantee to fund a journal collating contributions of Ukrainian artists and cultural workers on the subject of the war to inform both Ukrainian and Western audiences.

Defending Civic Space

Institute of Mass Information, Ukraine: £120,000 towards a fund providing material and technical support to Ukrainian journalists reporting on the conflict.

International Partnership on Human Rights, Belgium: £100,000 to an existing grantee to help cover the costs of supporting relocated activists for a period of 4-6 months, psychological support and protective equipment for HRDs inside the country.

Detention, Torture and Death Penalty

Bluebird, Ukraine: £30,000 to this group which provides psychological, medical and legal assistance to individuals who have been arbitrarily detained and tortured in the Ukraine conflict. This will facilitate temporary accommodation rental; office repairs; replacement of destroyed IT equipment; database hosting outside of Ukraine to ensure the security of client data; and a wellbeing consultant to prevent staff burnout.

Earlier grants include:

Arts Programme

Blyzqist, Poland: £5,000 to support their efforts to provide a welcome centre and food packages for newly arrived refugees in Warsaw, via space at the Museum of Modern Art.

European Cultural Foundation, Netherlands: £75,000 to contribute to an emergency Ukraine Culture of Solidarity fund. The fund supports artistic and cultural work directly responding to the conflict, safe cultural spaces in Ukraine and neighbouring countries hosting artists, cultural works and activists forced into exile.

Museum Crisis Centre, Ukraine: £20,000 to support the staff of regional museums in Ukraine, who are in turn responsible for safeguarding local collections.

Visual Culture Research Centre, Ukraine: £20,000 to provide financial help to support basic needs for artists who are remaining in country but have lost their incomes as well as relocation costs for those who can leave.

Defending Civic Space

Araminta, Germany: £230,000 to support resettlement and integration of those affected by the conflict and their families in safe European countries over a period of one year.

Media Development Foundation, Ukraine: £120,000 towards a fund providing emergency logistical, financial and technical support to Ukrainian media outlets and journalists.

People In Need, Czech Republic: £140,000 to support resettlement and integration of those affected by the conflict and their families.

Detention, Torture and the Death Penalty

International Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Torture, Denmark: £160,000 to assist national groups in Hungary, Moldova, Romania and Poland to step up and sustain their provision of psychosocial and medical support, humanitarian assistance, and care for care-givers. Also to support some remote provision directly by IRCT.

LGBTI Rights

Insight, Ukraine: £48,000 to help LGBTI people escape from the frontlines and also provide food, shelter and other forms of support in various parts of the country. Supporting hotlines offering psychological support, legal aid and consultations, relocation to Western Ukraine and relocation to bordering countries and for dedicated shelters for LGBT IDPs and refugees.

Transparency and Accountability

Bureau of Investigative Journalism, UK: £90,000 to support the expansion of its Enablers project, which seeks to expose the role of the UK’s service industry in supporting global corruption.

Truth, Justice and Memory

Mnemonic, Germany: £75,000 to help set up an archive of open source documentation concerning human rights violations in the Ukraine crisis.

Human Rights Centre, University of California Berkeley, US: £75,000 to a current grantee to advise the Ukraine 5am Coalition’s on digital documentation of crimes to ensure it meets evidentiary standards in court. The organization will also help verify the authenticity of open-source materials collected by the Coalition.

Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, Ukraine: £75,000 to support the organisation to continue to play a leading role in efforts to document war crimes in Ukraine and advance accountability.

Women’s Rights

Global Resilience Fund, UK: £30,000 for direct grantmaking to Ukrainian young feminist groups.

Ukrainian Women’s Fund, Ukraine: £100,000 to support women’s rights groups provide humanitarian assistance.

Urgent Action Fund, USA: £120,000 to support Ukrainian women human rights defenders and their families, including through relocation.

Migration and Inclusion

Association for Legal Intervention, Poland: £70,000 to provide direct legal assistance to Ukrainians, expand legal training for activists and non-asylum lawyers who are assisting Ukrainians, and further develop an online tool.

Asylum Protection Centre, Serbia: £65,000 to a current grantee to provide legal advice and humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees as well as to do public messaging.

Artemisszio, Hungary: £70,000 to hire a further employee with Ukrainian language skills and support the running of its community centre, and to support refugees’ evolving needs through finding accommodation, social and employment opportunities.

European Network on Statelessness, UK: £75,000 to a current grantee for its advice and support to Ukrainian members, its member organisations across Europe assisting stateless people from Ukraine and its regional advocacy during the crisis.

Foundation for Access to Rights, Bulgaria: £67,000 to support provision of legal information in person and through their comprehensive online platform; scale up legal aid services; and advocate for changes to laws and practices; and refugee law trainings for non-expert lawyers providing assistance.

Halina Nieć Legal Aid Center, Poland: £55,000 to support their Legal Task-Force for Unaccompanied and Separated Children from Ukraine, which aims to secure the status and well-being of unaccompanied and separated children.

Human Rights League, Slovakia: £90,000 to support national and local efforts to assist people arriving from Ukraine, including providing legal information and accommodation referrals, advocacy for particularly vulnerable groups, as well as re-opening the organisation’s Kosice office.

Law Center of Advocates, Moldova: £75,000 to support legal advice and information; legal assistance and counselling with access to documentation, education, and social and medical services; training for smaller local NGOs with capacity to provide legal advice; and addressing hate speech.

Organisation for Aid to Refugees, Czechia: £100,000 to establish regional professional support teams in each of their five regions. These teams would focus on assistance with visa applications, health care access, registration in schools, and the training and coordination of the many volunteers who have come forward.