There is no clear understanding of the amount of IDPs in Ukraine, – Elena Petryayeva

18:09 / 27 Jul. 2015 / 2276

The statistics related to the IDPs does not reflect the real situation. This means that the state has no clear understanding of the amount of displaced persons. It is unaware of the scale of their problems. Elena Petryayeva – the head of the public initiative “Restoring Donbas” – told about it in the program “Horoshiy den?” on “Business” Channel.

Thus, according to the Ministry of Social Policy, 1.391 million IDPs are registered as of today. At the same time, according to State Emergency Service of Ukraine there are 907,000 registered IDPs.

“The difference in the statistics is connected with that fact that State Emergency Service of Ukraine register people during transit on the checkpoints, while the Ministry of Social Policy register people in case of appeal to the territorial authorities. In fact, such people are much more “, – explained the head of the initiative.

According to her, the problem is that there is part of the IDPs, who, on the one hand, do not want to obtain the status of a displaced person, because they do not need benefits, on the other hand – they are afraid of pursuit or discrimination.

In addition, Elena Petryayeva noted: “The state has not yet formed a unified database of internally displaced persons, which would allow to keep tabs on IDPs. That’s why the state does not have a clear understanding of the scale of the humanitarian disaster that is happening in the center of Europe. ”

“Restoring Donbas” attempts to find out how many internally displaced persons are living in Ukraine and what conditions are created for them to live in different regions of the country. In order to clear up it, the initiative carries out the project “IDPs comfort index.” The first data, which was obtained in this project demonstrated a tendency outflow of IDPs from Mykolaiv and Vinnytsia regions. At the same time, the number of IDPs is steadily increasing in Kharkov, Odessa and Luhansk regions.

«We decided to carry out a survey, which would demonstrate is it comfortable for IDPs to live in a particular region, what do IDPs think about the authorities and residents of a particular area. At the same time, we would like to know the opposite – the attitude of power and residents of the region to the presence of IDPs. During the survey, it will become clear why there is an internal migration of displaced persons and will it be possible to define their number”- said Elena Petryayeva.

Also the head of “Restoring Donbas” stated that the organization will open its first center for migrant advice on July 30 (Vozdukhoflotsky ave., 21/2) in order to help the displaced people. Informational, advisory services, as well as free legal assistance will be provided there.

Фото: maailm.postimees.ee

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