"There are a lot of crises out there," says Janson, as we chat on Zoom. "We are not everywhere, we don't have the capacity to respond to each and every crisis," he adds. "But we do our best to see where our added value is the largest and hence where we should be responding."

The Estonian Refugee Council is the largest humanitarian organization in the Baltics. Active both in Estonia and abroad, it also has offices in Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia and Jordan. It has a presence in Lebanon too, and has previously worked in Kenya and Turkey.

"The countries where we currently operate have been chosen based on where we can add value," Janson explains. That means it's always important for the ERC to think carefully before committing to provide support. "What's the gap that we would be filling?" he says. "And if this gap is there, then we are ready to respond? And hopefully, then we can get the funding to support that as well."

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Janson has been working for the ERC for over 12 years. In that time, he's seen plenty of change, not least in terms of Estonians' responses to emerging crises.

"In 2015-2016, during the Syrian crisis, definitely the societal feeling was different from in 2022 and 2023 [for the] Ukrainian crisis," he says. "So, the fears about roughly 500 people arriving (in 2015-16) versus the welcome-ness to 50,000 people arriving (in 2022-23) was quite interesting to see."

"What we saw in 2022, I think that was incredible – the way people responded and came out to accommodate and provide, give donations and everything. I guess it's mostly because of the fact that it was an attack from Russia and the cultural and historical proximity [of Estonia] to Ukraine," he adds.

"But still, I think what it showed to us, is that we can be welcoming if we want to be and decide to be. I wish that this could become more internalized into the Estonian psyche – the will to help."

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When it comes to helping Ukraine, Janson is keen to stress how the ERC differs from other fundraising organizations in Estonia. Most, he explains, actually provide forms of military aid – sending equipment and supplies to Ukrainian soldiers, or buying drones that can be directly used in battlefield operations, for instance.

"But this is not humanitarian assistance," Janson says. "One of the things we've been struggling with in Estonia, particularly in public awareness raising, is this distinction. So let's distinguish this very clearly," he says. "We are a humanitarian organization and we are doing this according to the rules and principles of humanitarian assistance."

While that means the ERC does "coordinate and harmonize with others," Janson explains, "this doesn't take place in the military assistance world, where there are bilateral agreements with military units and so on. These are completely different worlds."

In the ERC's world, crisis response is based on three fundamental pillars. The first, is "emergency response, which is often cash-based assistance, but also in kind if necessary." The second is "economic recovery, meaning entrepreneurship programs. So, we help people with income generation – to create great businesses or keep up their [existing] agriculture businesses, for example."

The third pillar is protection and empowerment, and follows the underlying humanitarian principle of "nothing about me without me." In other words, the people affected should always be involved in discussions about issues that impact them. To this end, the ERC helps establish community councils, which bring displaced people together to advocate for their own rights and partake in those discussions.

"This something we do in practically all the countries where we operate," says Janson.

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Established soon after Russia's full-scale invasion began, "Slava Ukraini" quickly became one of Estonia's largest fundraisers, collecting €6.5 million in donations to help Ukraine. It was later revealed, however, that a considerable proportion of those funds had ended up in the hands of a suspicious Ukrainian construction firm and not with the people those who donated thought they were helping.

Understandably, this made many Estonians a lot more cautious about making further contributions.

Janson points out, that while the ERC was also affected by the resulting drop-off in donations, it felt less impact than organizations that rely exclusively on money donated by the public. "Most of our funding doesn't come from public donations, but rather from the European Union, from the U.S., from the U.N., and also the Estonian government," he says, stressing that the difference is not just about money.

"For us, the humanitarian principles are key," says Janson, adding that the ERC cannot and does not make deals like the kind made by "Slava Ukraini," or other organizations providing military-type assistance. "Because we have to stay neutral and people also have to know and understand where they are donating to."

***

Staying neutral in conflict situations is no easy task, particularly when the ERC needs to access the affected population to provide aid. They constantly have to strike a fine balance "while also factoring in the security and safety of our own staff members who have to go into these places," says Janson.

There's also the challenge of dealing with warring parties who don't respect International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which essentially means "they don't respect the right of humanitarian action to take place."  

By way of example, Janson points to Israel's announcement the day before our conversation that UNRWA (The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), will become unlawful in three months' time. "So, things like that. There's a lot to unpack there [in terms of] how to respond as the humanitarian sector to these challenges and navigate these very difficult questions," he says.

On a personal level too, it's hard to be in Estonia and stay impartial to what's happening in Ukraine, or anywhere else for that matter. So, how does that affect the ERC's work?

"That's the difficulty of us receiving funding from a certain government and then saying we are neutral to a conflict," Janson says. "This can be perceived differently, but as an organization, we have to remain neutral, through, for example, the fact that we are addressing the needs of affected populations, and not focusing on [their] political views or nationality."

"It's purely based on need," Janson says, though he also admits that "this can also be a bit difficult to understand sometimes for people in these countries."

***

There are clearly no easy answers in situations like this. And that's one of the reasons why the ERC is hosting an international conference in Tallinn this week, "to bring these high-level discussions to Estonia."

"We don't have a very long history of humanitarian assistance [in Estonia]. It was only around 26 years ago that Estonia became a provider of humanitarian assistance because before that we were the recipients," says Janson. "So, having been on this other side, we have a bit of a different understanding of what it means."

And that's not all that Estonian humanitarian organizations like the ERC bring to the table. "We have a very strong digitalization angle to our work and this sets us apart from many old school humanitarian organizations," he says.

Is that just because the ERC is Estonian, I ask? "Partially," Janson laughs, adding that given his "previous life" as a developer, it was only natural to incorporate that into the ERC's work.

"That's also why every year one of the [conference] topics is heavily focused on digitalization, and hence the AI focus this year. AI is nothing new – it's all around us already," he says. "But the question we should be asking is what are the actual practical things we can do [with it]? In humanitarian response, we come across a lot of personal and non-personal data. So, for example, how [can we] speed up the process of analyzing that?"

AI can also be used alongside satellite imagery to predict flooding and other natural disasters before they occur, Eero says. This potentially enables humanitarian organizations to prepare their responses ahead of time and mitigate some of the effects.

Still, he, adds, it's equally important to consider the risks and challenges AI poses to the humanitarian sector. "What are the biases which are coming through because of the way it's learning? And if the AI is run by a third party, what kind of data are we actually giving away for processing and what are the implications of that?"

***

As I glance out of the window, it's hard to ignore that, here in Estonia, winter is well and truly on the way. With the nights drawing in and colder weather on the way, for the ERC it's almost time to launch its latest "winterization campaign."

"This is something we have done for many years in Ukraine, every winter season," says Eero, "to raise money to provide heating, solid fuels and payment for utility bills."

In 2022, the ERC even enlisted the help of top Estonian street artist Edward von Lõngus, selling postcards, candles and canvas prints of his "Hacker Hedgehogs" to help boost donations. "Based on those funds, which we received from the Estonian public, we provided generators to four or five local municipalities in Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia Oblast," Janson tells me.

As part of its campaign this year, with November 19 marking 1,000 days since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, the ERC is planning to symbolically light 1,000 candles on Tallinn's Freedom Square (Vabaduse väljak).

"The working title is '1,000 days of war, 1,000 warm homes,'" Janson says about the event, which will be held on the site where, on February 26, 2022, Estonia's largest protest since re-independence also took place in solidarity with Ukraine.

***

Talking to Janson, it's clear that working for a humanitarian organization like the Estonian Refugee Council is far more than just a job – it's a major personal and emotional investment too. "For most of the staff at the ERC, and we number around 120 globally, what motivates us is the meaningfulness of this work," he says.

In 2022 especially, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, a lot of people approached the ERC saying "I can't just sit idly by, I need to do something," Janson tells me. But, after the initial push, gradually, life starts happening again and, often, volunteers no longer have as much time to devote to helping out.

"But we need to continue," Janson stresses. "We have to be very sustainable and persistent in doing this work," especially when it comes to crises that are not constantly in the headlines. "It's also these forgotten crises that we need to respond to and we are responding to."

When it comes to Ukraine, there's no question that the ERC is "definitely staying there and continuing our work," the way they have done since 2014, he says.

"But let's not forget the other crises out there which also need attention."

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The Estonian Refugee Council's International Humanitarian Conference "Ethics, Foresight and Innovation" takes place at Fotografiska in Tallinn on Thursday, November 7. More information is available here.

More information about the Estonian Refugee Council's latest activities can be found here.

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