The project is organized by a group of NGOs that support access to water in Eastern Ukraine (People in Need, Première Urgence Internationale, ADRA Ukraine, Polish Humanitarian Action, ArcheNova, and Mama-86), with the participation of the European Commission for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid.
On April 17, 2019, at 4:30 pm, the Golden Gate Museum hosted the opening of the exhibition “People Live Here” – a project by Spanish photographer Albert Lores. This event was attended by a member of the NGO “INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC MISSION” Kapenina Krupenko.
In mid-April 2014, when hostilities broke out in eastern Ukraine, residents of settlements near the demarcation line began writing “People live here” at their gates. These few words were a warning to the military to avoid shelling and settling in their homes. After 5 years since the beginning of the war, these inscriptions are still relevant. People still live here. In conditions of continuous hostilities, which, among other things, deprive the main source of life – water.
The Ambassador of the European Union to Ukraine, Hugh Mingarelli, made introductory remarks: “We call on both sides of the conflict to preserve water-related infrastructure and to respect international humanitarian law. We know that currently 15,000 citizens are deprived of access to water along the demarcation lines. This is due to the fact that the water supply company is unable to pay the energy bills. We fully support Ukraine on the path to energy reform, but we also call on those on whom this decision depends not to allow a situation where people are deprived of water. We hope that thanks to this exhibition, people not only from Ukraine but also from Western Europe will be more aware of this humanitarian crisis, so that in the near future, due to the pressure we can put on all parties responsible for this problem, we will have will be able to reduce the suffering of the people who live there. ”
In turn, water workers risk their lives to provide people with access to this important resource, repairing facilities during hostilities. One of these heroic workers said in an interview that they do it because water is everything, “water is life.” In 2018, nine employees of the water company “Water of Donbas” were injured while doing their job.
The Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, representatives of the humanitarian community, representatives responsible for water supply also spoke.