Some have expressed concern that a British reception scheme for Ukrainian refugees may be exploited, putting women at risk of abuse.
The United Kingdom’s Homes for Ukraine scheme allows British residents to register to receive Ukrainian refugees in their home or an empty home they own and sponsor those fleeing the conflict, for which they receive a sum of £350 ($431) a month from the government.
However, there may be flaws in the programme, with critics saying there may be vulnerabilities that could allow women to be exploited.
While the scheme states that those housing refugees are subject to criminal background checks, some have claimed that predatory men may still be seeking to find ways to exploit vulnerable Ukrainian women, the BBC reports.
A whistleblower alleged to the BBC that around 30 per cent of those registered with Homes for Ukraine were men over 40 looking to host single women in their twenties and thirties, leading to fears some may be seeking to abuse the system.
Robina Qureshi, chief executive of the NGO Positive Action in Housing, warned the scheme was “dangerous” and accused the British government of having “created chaos, [with] no risk checks, no due diligence,” adding that her group would never allow a single man to house a woman.
Many of the Ukrainian refugees are also said to be using groups on Facebook to find sponsors to house them and their families. In one case, a man said to have multiple criminal convictions living in a one-bedroom apartment is alleged to have tried to host multiple young Ukrainian women.
Others who have been involved in the Homes for Ukraine scheme claim that their accommodations were squalid, with one refugee claiming they were given simply a mattress on the floor with no food stocked in the kitchen and no heating.
NGOs have previously raised alarms over the possible exploitation of Ukrainian refugee women and children, with Shirin Tinnesand, refugee and migration coordinator at the NGO Wadi, saying in early March that they were at risk of being preyed upon by criminals.
“They are at risk of being exposed to human trafficking, prostitution, organ donation. Only imagination sets the limits,” she said.
European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson has expressed concern that children, particularly the large number of unaccompanied children, could fall victim to traffickers in the European Union as well.
In Sweden, a number of Ukrainian women have expressed major safety concerns, with one woman claiming groups of non-European migrant men had attempted to force their way into the accommodation area of a number of Ukrainian women, including a man trying to gain access to the bedroom of a woman who was sleeping with her child at the time.
Other Ukrainians have expressed hesitancy going to Sweden from Poland at all, with some claiming that they were concerned over a large number of fatal shootings in the country and concerns the Swedish government may separate them from their children.
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