The UN refugee agency has told the government to ensure Ukrainian women and children coming to the UK are not matched with single men, amid concerns they may be exploited.
The UNHCR said it is aware of ‘increasing reports’ of female refugees feeling at risk from people who have sponsored them to come to the UK.
Ukrainians fleeing Vladimir Putin’s troops can come to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine matching scheme.
The sponsorship scheme allows individuals, charities, community groups or businesses to bring people escaping the war to safety – even if they have no ties to the UK.
Anyone with a room or home available for at least six months can offer it to a Ukrainian individual or a family.
Those offering to host are vetted and Ukrainian applicants undergo security checks however, the UNHCR has said the system needs to be improved.
It has called for a ‘more appropriate’ process and said there needs to be adequate safeguards and vetting in place to protect vulnerable refugees from exploitation.
‘UNHCR believes that a more appropriate matching process could be put in place by ensuring that women and women with children are matched with families or couples, rather than with single men,’ a spokesperson for the agency said.
‘Matching done without the appropriate oversight may lead to increasing the risks women may face, in addition to the trauma of displacement, family separation and violence already experienced.’
Two weeks after the Homes for Ukraine scheme opened, a Government-backed programme was launched in response to concerns people were turning to social media to find places to live, making them vulnerable to human traffickers.
Reset Communities and Refugees has received £300,000 from the Government to pair sponsors and refugees, provide training and carry out initial eligibility and safeguarding checks.
Last week councils sounded the alarm over a ‘concerning increase’ in reports of relationships between refugees and their sponsors failing with Ukrainians being made homeless as a result.
Dozens of matches are understood to have broken down, with local authorities having to put families in emergency accommodation while they wait to find a new sponsor.
There are also refugees whose relatives sponsored them to come to the UK but who cannot accommodate them.
Councils have been calling for a way to get refugees whose matches have not worked out back on the database so they can be matched quickly with sponsors in the local area who have homes ready and waiting.
A government spokeswoman said: ‘Attempts to exploit vulnerable people are truly despicable – this is why we have designed the Homes for Ukraine scheme to have specific safeguards in place, including robust security and background checks on all sponsors by the Home Office and local authorities.
‘Councils must make at least one in-person visit to a sponsor’s property and they have a duty to make sure the guest is safe and well once they’ve arrived.’
Since the start of the war in Ukraine more than 10 million people are thought to have fled their homes.
The United Nations estimates 4.6 million have left the country, while an estimated 7.1 million have been displaced within Ukraine itself.
The majority of those who have crossed the country’s borders have fled to Poland, which is estimated to have taken in 2.6 million people.
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