Exclusive interview of the Kate Forbes, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, to Interfax-Ukraine News Agency

Text: Valerie Proschenko

 

Throughout 2022-2024, seventeen National Societies across Ukraine's neighbouring countries, including the Baltics, Central and Southeastern Europe, the South Caucasus, and Türkiye have addressed the needs of people displaced from Ukraine under the IFRC Ukraine and Impacted Countries Emergency Appeal. In response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

National Societies receiving financial and technical support in Europe, National Societies are actively working to maintain and enhance the effectiveness of their response activities. The IFRC and its Membership are committed to support these efforts by providing funding and technical expertise to enhance the capacity of National Societies involved.

As the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale aggression approaches, Kate Forbes paid a working visit to Ukraine to assess the urgent needs of country and identify the priority areas of support that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies can offer.

 

Almost three years ago Russia started its full-scale war. What is your mission here? Or is it just a visit of solidarity?

The war in Ukraine has had an impact globally. Unfortunately, the third anniversary is coming up. I actually was involved, and we had an oversight committee when I was a board member, and I'd seen from the outside of Ukraine. I went to Romania and Moldova and saw displaced refugees coming, and was working on that.

When I became president, it became very important for me to come to Ukraine for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted to thank the incredible work of the Ukrainian Red Cross, what they've done, and have continued to do. They have scaled up and met the challenge that was sent to them.

Second, I believe I have a unique opportunity and obligation to remind people that this war continues. I know that I'll be more articulate, more informed, and more passionate if I've had the opportunity to see what the Ukrainians are going through, their experience. I seeing those memorial parks of fallen soldiers and thinking about the impact that's going to have in the future.

Third, we've met with a series of government officials to talk to them about, one, what are their needs, how can we support them, and quite frankly, are we meeting their expectations?

And we know it's becoming obvious that the area for philanthropy, for funding, is not increasing. In fact, probably we'll be lucky if we can sustain it, and maybe decreasing. And we are extending our appeal as the Federation for Ukraine. So how do I help find additional funding? Where can I go and tell the story? Awareness and understanding help bring funding and solutions.

So, many reasons why I came to Ukraine. The power of what's happening here has really hit me very hard.

 

Did you get some additional requests from the Ukrainian side? As you already mentioned, the needs continue but to get funding is difficult. Given the decisions made by the US, could it influence? 

Right. We're facing a change in foreign aid, not only in the U.S. but also in the EU. And we had a lengthy discussion in our meeting about that. We need to be clear between the government and our organization. What are the needs? How do we prioritize them? And what funding is needed? How do we measure the impact? All of that has to happen.

We discussed with the government the main issues and the ways where we need to go forward. The Red Cross and the Red Crescent Federation can help coordinate and get funding as well, so our discussions were pretty broad. Recognizing the situation we're in helps us to identify new donors and focus on the things that are most important and have the greatest impact.

Overall, the IFRC network is providing critical support to the Ukrainian Red Cross and assisting Ukrainians in neighbouring countries. Across the network, 60 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies worldwide have mobilized 2.3 billion CHF to support humanitarian efforts for Ukraine and for people from Ukraine.

That's all ongoing work. For instance, I had been last week in the US meeting with large philanthropists and they said that they knew the Red Cross but they had no idea what the Ukrainian Red Cross does. It's important to show and explain to the public so they can understand both within Ukraine and without. One of my goals was to be able to go to different forums like the United Nations. I'm going to go to a big diplomatic forum in the Middle East and talk about Ukraine. We cannot forget Ukraine.

 

But can admit that you feel so-called war fatigue among donors?

I'm not so sure. For example, I was in Los Angeles where we had massive wildfires, in the Middle East conflict continues, food insecurity in Africa continues and people have been overwhelmed. I assume that part of my job is to explain where humanitarian aid is needed and how we can ensure that it's delivered with accountability, and transparency and has the greatest impact. It's like "educating" the donors and helping them bring some clarity. There's a lot of noise out there. Not everything is seen. The press has great power on that. You make people pay their attention and then their funding follows.

Right now, we need to ensure that donors understand that the needs of Ukraine are only going to increase, unfortunately. Even if there's a ceasefire, that doesn't mean there are less needs. On the contrary, there are many more needs. For example, veterans. They need to be repatriated and have some psychosocial support. And there are going to be many other issues. That's why it's necessary to talk about priorities and the next possible steps.

I would say that my job is to understand what the Ukrainian Red Cross really needs. In other words, we're the organizations that "the last mile". Our local volunteers understand what the Ukrainians need far better than I do sitting in Geneva.

You've got IDPs, internally displaced people, who are receiving aid outside of the country. That aid is going to stop. 

Unfortunately, those are the projects that traditionally we see are really at the end of this type of conflict. And we need funding attention and manpower.

 

Your colleagues from the United Nations assume that the mental health crisis is going to be one of the main problems next months and years. As a person who's dealing with people's suffering for years, do you see this crisis?

I'm so pleased you asked this question. Mental health is something you can't see. You can't walk down the street and see that someone is suffering inside. And the fact that I believe it's a huge step that Ukrainians recognize that this is going to be an issue.

The first, the biggest hurdle for people to recognize it. Again, if there's a ceasefire, the guns are silent but the mental health issues don't go away. You can't just turn in off. Sometimes they intensify.

Since the escalation of the conflict, our National Red Cross Societies have been providing mental health services in Ukraine and 25 European countries. It is important to continue these services, as the conflict in Ukraine has led to an estimated 15 million people needing mental health and psychosocial support.

 

And what about Ukrainians who are abroad as a result of Russian aggression? How to help them to have some kind of home? On the other hand, how can we help them return home?

My home is in Phoenix, Arizona, and one of my closest neighbors has adopted a Ukrainian family. I see that the family struggles and they want to come back to Ukraine, yes, they made a home here but it is difficult for them. Actually, we met with the Minister of National Unity of Ukraine. He explained to us his plan. In my opinion, his plan was brilliant.

Ukrainians are unique, that's true. This is an important culture to preserve. This is an important country. Many people still feel a tie and want to come back, not only want to, but have the tools necessary to do that. I do believe in it.

Everyone's going to have to make their own decision on it. I can't imagine if I had been exiled but I think I'm going to return home probably. The sad side is that after the war there going to be a more difficult economic situation.

 

What are the prospects for the program of assistance to Ukrainians?

We are extending our appeal because we're running out of funding for another two years. So that we can raise additional funds to help through the transition with the hope that there is a ceasefire. Our hope is to be able to raise more additional funding. We met as many needs as we could. And the help is needed. As I said, one of the reasons why I'm here is to ascertain us with the Ukrainian Red Cross priorities, where can I go to help people understand that funding is going to be needed in the next time period.

 

There was an information that the International Red Cross Movement has decided not to suspend the membership of the Russian Red Cross, despite potential violations of the rules of neutrality revealed by an investigation conducted by a group of international media outlets. You probably heard a lot of criticism by Ukrainian side on that. Why this decision was made?

I understand your concerns. Look, it's a multi-layered question. First of all, some of the things that the Russian government has done or hasn't done, it's up to the government. My job is to get humanitarian aid, to deliver humanitarian aid.

As for the Russian Red Cross, we've set up the highest level of oversight and are headed by a former ambassador from Switzerland. We went to the board, and they reported to me, personally, as president and as chief, and we found areas that we think should have improvement, and we continue to monitor the situation.

People tell me lots of things and my answer is simple: you give me proof of what you're saying, we will look into it and if we find it, we will always take the appropriate action. I believe the work we've done has given us a path forward and this is how I feel. We have to be able to have a dialogue to work with people, to have continuous improvement across all our national societies and that's what we're doing with Russia.

Actually, I'll be going to Russia this spring to talk to them. I believe we've made the right decision to work with them to improve the areas that we didn't believe were to the standards that they should have been.

 

Since we have already touched on this topic, I will ask about Belarus. The Belarus Red Cross Society is suspended from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Does that decision stand?

Part of my presidency in Belarus was suspended. It remains suspended because we had allegations that we could verify that warranted the suspension.

 

Talking about protection of volunteers and staff, do you have concrete numbers of injured?

Last year, unfortunately, 38 volunteers and staff that were killed in the line of work wearing the emblem. It's so important that we educate people, train them and we will continue to do it.

As you know, we have the 191 National Societies. And we have the ICRC, the International Committee of the Red Cross. They are primarily responsible for working in conflict areas. They are the keepers of the Geneva Convention.

Traditionally, my role is more disaster response, public health, and crises. For example, we vaccinate against measles, we work on Ebola, we were very involved in COVID-19. And we're now doing quite a bit in the climate arena of people who are being impacted by climate, whether it be droughts or floods. That's our role.

And occasionally, because the world is blurry, there's a little bit of blur where there's a conflict going on, but we work very closely.

 

As you said, you're dealing with huge crises. War in Ukraine has influenced the world. What are your expectations for the months ahead?

I hope we can accomplish our work in the months ahead, but first of all, continue.  I have been so pleased to watch the evolution of the Ukrainian Red Cross, and how they have grown and met the needs. That's really huge. This is going to continue.

My expectation for the next few months is for us to have a clearer view of what is happening. But we have to lay the foundation for a while so that we understand what would be the needs if this is scenario A, B, or C, and what role we play to help coordinate and meet those needs.

But personally, I cannot imagine how people in occupied territories are going to deal even after a ceasefire. The needs are going to be greater and the challenge is to educate those who support us more. That's why I'm here. So that we have we can form a message and be successful in working in conjunction with governments and other NGOs.

 

Also, according to your experience, a lot of young women and children. Will we be able to bring young people to Ukraine back?

It's not only in wars. If you look at climate change, you look at other disasters, who's impacted more? It tends to be women and children. It's the reality of the situation. I do think that we're recognizing that more. We're being much smarter, and much more strategic in how we have those discussions and understanding the unique challenges that they're going to have.

I've been with the Red Cross movement now for 45 years. And the evolution that we've had to recognize now who's most impacted. For instance, we never talked about mental health issues when I first started.

When I first started, you had a disaster coming up, you were in and out. We didn't take a long term, we didn't talk about livelihoods. I think we're being much more holistic about our approach and we have an opportunity in this. Basically, I do think people want to come home and we're one piece of a larger puzzle that we can help that happen. So I'm optimistic.

As much as I've seen this job, just some statistics, we have 16 million volunteers. There are 16 million people who are willing to go help someone they've never met before and may never see again but they believe that that's the right thing to do.

Yes, I see a lot of trauma. Sometimes I see the best and worst in humanity within the same 15 minutes and I choose to be part of the 16 million force that is trying to make a difference and help people.  The Red Cross is a big part of my life. I'm absolutely passionate about it. I do believe that the best people in the world are in the Red Cross.