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How to strengthen legal and social protection of internally displaced persons discussed in Chernihiv
On October 30, 2017, a roundtable discussion was held in Chernihiv on the topic “Strengthening the legal and social protection of internally displaced persons and the population affected by the conflict”, organized by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights.
The purpose of the roundtable was to summarize the problematic issues of the legal and social protection of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Chernihiv region and develop proposals for their settlement at the local and legislative levels.
The event was attended by representatives of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration, the Regional Employment Center, regional departments of the State Migration Service and the Pension Fund of Ukraine, the local center for providing free secondary legal aid, the Children’s Service under the Chernihiv Regional State Administration, representatives of other relevant authorities, social protection institutions and the human rights community of the region.
Opening the event,
Nadiya Edieva
, a lawyer of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, who is also the Advisor to the Ministry of Social Policy on IDPs in Chernihiv region, highlighted the most acute problems and needs of internally displaced persons living in the Chernihiv region.
According to the human rights activist, the number one problem in the region is housing for IDPs, which forces people to look for work in the informal sector or in other risky places in order to be able to pay rent for housing. The issues of improving the procedures for issuing passports and registering IDPs, receiving free legal assistance, medical care, organizing employment, and problems with social payments, which are exacerbated by changes in the legislation on internally displaced persons, remain acute today.
Director of the Department of Social Protection of the Population of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration
Oleg Rusin
, informed those present about the weekly monitoring of IDP registration and payment of monthly targeted assistance. Thus, according to the Department, as of October 26 of this year, there are 8,888 IDPs or 6,019 families in Chernihiv region. Compared to last year, there is a tendency to reduce the number of applications submitted for registration.
Oleg Rusin
recalled that the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated October 1, 2014 provides for monthly targeted assistance to IDPs to cover living expenses, including payment for housing and communal services. And since September 2017, the amount of such assistance has been increased for persons with disabilities, and the number of IDPs entitled to receive cash assistance has also been increased. According to him, since the beginning of this year, monthly targeted assistance has been assigned to 2,157 IDP families in the region.
The official noted that since the beginning of the placement of IDPs from Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol in the region, three projects have already been implemented in cooperation with international organizations. In particular, in 2014, the Department, together with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, provided financial assistance to 350 displaced families in the amount of 1.8 million hryvnias. Also, during 2015-16, a similar project was implemented jointly with the International Organization for Migration – 1,510 IDPs received one-time material assistance in the amount of 2.4 million hryvnias.
Since March 2017, a project to provide humanitarian assistance to IDPs has been ongoing in the region, which is implemented by the Chernihiv Association of the Samaritans’ Union of Ukraine, which operates with the support of the Government of Germany. The goal of this project is to support vulnerable categories of IDPs: people with disabilities, people aged 65 and older, single mothers, low-income and large families. Currently, as the director of the department reported, 9 thousand IDPs have already received such assistance.
Deputy Head of the Health Department of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration
Volodymyr Pulin
, said that more than 7,500 internally displaced persons have applied to health care institutions in the region, of which 1,600 have already received the necessary emergency medical care in a hospital. According to the official, among the displaced there are many people with disabilities, cancer patients, diabetes mellitus, some have other chronic diseases, 6 people currently have kidney failure and are dependent on hemodialysis.
Deputy Head of the Regional Employment Center
Maksym Torzhevsky
noted that in 2017, 216 internally displaced persons were registered in the regional employment centers, while in 2016, 359 people were registered.
Representative of the State Migration Service Department in Chernihiv Oblast
Natalia Kyrienko
noted that the issues of personal identification are quite relevant, because today there is no possibility to access the registers that remained in the territory not controlled by Ukraine. Other procedures are regulated by law.
“In general, 116 ID cards were issued in Chernihiv Oblast for IDPs from Crimea and 626 IDPs from Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, as well as international passports: 281 for IDPs from Crimea and 1242 for IDPs from Donbass, respectively. Of course, questions also arise when issuing international passports, because displaced persons from Crimea can apply to any unit of the Migration Service of Ukraine, and IDPs from the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts only at the place of registration as IDPs. As for children who need to apply for an ID card for the first time, they apply at the place of registration of their parents. Unfortunately, there are still issues of queues, because the ASNs currently do not have certified equipment for issuing ID cards,” – noted
Natalia Kiriyenko
.
Representatives of local social protection departments noted that targeted housing assistance is assigned only to those persons who moved from uncontrolled territory (the list of settlements was approved by the relevant Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated November 7, 2014). Therefore, issues often arise with the contact line, the boundaries of which change periodically, while the list of settlements located on the contact line remains unchanged. In addition, problems arise for pensioners due to departure to uncontrolled territory and absence from their place of residence for more than 60 days, since the payment of pensions is also tied to the status of IDPs.
Representative of the Chernihiv Joint Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine
Lyudmila Bykovets
said that today 756 IDPs receive pension payments in the region. The legislation has settled many issues during this time, but some remain unresolved. A number of issues with the pension provision of IDPs. In particular, there are difficulties in confirming the length of service and the level of salary when an internally displaced person retires, because information on salary and deductions has been in the register of insured persons only since 2000.
According to the representative of the pension fund, today the issue of receiving pensions by disabled people and people who need external care has already been partially resolved – not through Oschadbank institutions, but through post offices.
The head of the NGO “Crimean Community”
Svitlana Kuzina
spoke about the urgent problems of internally displaced persons. She emphasized the need for IDPs for affordable housing, the provision of which will not only solve the main problem of IDPs, but will also significantly contribute to better adaptation and integration of IDPs into the host community. Ms. Svitlana also spoke about the work of the NGO “Crimean Community” and positive practices in providing various types of assistance to IDPs in the Chernihiv region.
Summing up the event,
Nataliya Kulikova
, Program Manager of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, emphasized the importance of combining the efforts of public human rights organizations and relevant government bodies to strengthen the legal opportunities and social protection of the population affected by the conflict, in particular at the level of local communities.