(.... more February 6, 2002)
The UN call for an entirely new approach to helping millions of people
impacted by the Chernobyl accident, saying that 16 years after the incident
those affected remain in a state of “chronic dependency,” with few opportunities
and little control over their destinies. The UN warn that populations in
Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine would continue to experience
general decline unless significant new measures are adopted to address
health, the environment and unemployment. The study emphasizes the need
for the recovery phase to focus attention on two broad groups:
The first group includes some 100,000 to 200,000 people caught in the
downward spiral. These are people who live in severely contaminated areas;
people who have been resettled but remain unemployed; and those whose health
remains most directly threatened, including victims of thyroid cancer.
Some 2,000 people have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and the report
states that as many as 8,000 to 10,000 additional cases are expected to
develop over the coming years. The report states that this group of up
to 200,000 people, spread across all three countries, is “at the core of
the cluster of problems created by Chernobyl,” and focusing on their needs
and helping them take control of their futures must be a priority.
The second group identified for priority action includes those whose
lives have been directly and significantly affected but who are already
in a position to support themselves. This group has found employment, but
still must be reintegrated into society as a whole so that their ongoing
needs are addressed through the mainstream provision of services using
criteria applicable to other members of society. This group includes hundreds
of thousands of individuals.
The report also identifies a third group, encompassing millions of
people, who have been indirectly impacted by the stigma, uncertainty and
fatalism that have become associated with Chernobyl. This group, too, needs
to be aided through clearer information and more open and continuous disclosures
about the evolving situation in the region, the report argues. The report
notes that some 7 million people are in some way or another recipients
of state welfare connected with Chernobyl.
The study, carried out by an international panel of experts in July-August
2001, was commissioned by the UNDP and the UNICEF, and was supported by
the WHO and the OCHA.