Unemployed migrants are being taught to fight for their rights

Responding to the demand for free legal aid for this category of persons, a seminar was held on October 24, 2016 at the Chernihiv City Employment Center on the topic: “Protection of Labor, Social, and Housing Rights of Internally Displaced Persons.”

The Advisor to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine on IDP Issues in Chernihiv Oblast,

Nadiya Edieva

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Many of the questions asked by the seminar participants were closely related. The most painful issue for the displaced was the issue of the validity of the IDP certificate, freedom of movement, etc. It is safe to say that questions about real estate, improving housing and living conditions, paying utility bills, applying for subsidies, etc. are increasingly being raised. This indicates the gradual integration of internally displaced persons into territorial communities.

At the meeting, the lawyers of the committee, together with the Advisor, discussed a number of key problems and ways to solve them. Such as the procedure for applying for and conducting inspections of residential premises by social protection bodies, the procedure for applying for subsidies. Unfortunately, among the displaced, few people know about all their rights and privileges, about a number of simplified procedures for applying for one or another social assistance.

Citizens are unable or unwilling to qualitatively defend their rights and freedoms, to contact qualified lawyers, state authorities and the court to restore violated rights. Such problems primarily concern discrimination in hiring, renting housing, and applying to institutions of various forms of ownership. It is very important to disseminate information and hold such mass events to reach the widest possible audience among internally displaced persons. People should know what they are entitled to and how to use the benefits and mechanisms provided by law to improve their living conditions, how to fight injustice not on their own, but with the help of professional consultants and lawyers who will provide advice, prepare applications, procedural documents, etc.

A separate part of the seminar was to familiarize IDPs registered in employment centers with their labor rights.

Nadiya Edieva

highlighted the current special mechanisms developed to promote the employment of internally displaced persons.

As part of the seminar, internally displaced persons learned about the procedures for registering, suspending, and renewing social benefits to which they are entitled, as well as about national and international mechanisms for protecting human rights, national judicial practice on many housing and household issues that people face during integration into a foreign community.