The rights of IDPs are not respected in almost all areas of life – Restoring Donbas

10:17 / 12 Aug. 2015 / 1028

Despite the laws, which were adopted by Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and devoted to simplify the lives of displaced persons, the Cabinet of Ministers has not worked out any bylaw. Among the 30 deputies of the Verkhovna Rada representing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, 8 out of them have not carried out a legislative work related to the IDPs and Donbas residents. Only 9% of the information, which was published in the national media, is useful for IDPs.

This data is presented in the monitoring project, which was implemented by public initiative “Restoring Donbas”, “The effectiveness of the authorities in resolving the problems of Donbas residents and IDPs” Elena Petryayeva – the head of the initiative – noted: “This is the first comprehensive research of the work of the authorities and government agencies in the field of the problems of IDPs and Donbas residents.

We analyzed the activity of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada deputies from Donetsk and Luhansk regions, state media. As a result of this work, we have collected the factual actions of the authorities, which has been documented”.

The study covers the period from January 1 to August 1, 2015. 74 legal documents were examined. Among them there are: the normative-legal acts of central and regional authorities, including Donetsk and Luhansk regional military and civilian administration; activities of Donetsk and Lugansk deputies, reflected on the official website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; materials of Ukrainian state media related to the problems of IDPs.

The analysis demonstrated that despite the laws, which were adopted by Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers has not worked out any bylaw. Thus, the provisions devoted to simplify the lives of IDPs, are not working.

Among it there is a comprehensive program on support and resettlement of IDPs; the rules of payment of arrears of salaries, scholarships and pensions, which have been accumulated during ATO; program on support for vocational and higher education for children, whose parents died in ATO, as well as children of IDPs; the procedure for obtaining compensation for destroyed housing and property during hostilities, etc.

There was held an analysis of the work of 30 deputies of the Verkhovna Rada from Donetsk and Luhansk regions. According to the official website of the Verkhovna Rada, 8 of them have not carried out a legislative work related to the IDPs and Donbas residents. The work of others in total is 15 speeches about Donbas issue in the Parliament, 22 deputy requests, 51 draft laws and 6 amendments related to Donbas problems.

During the examination there were analyzed the materials of newspaper “Voice of Ukraine” and “Government Courier”, and television news stories on “Pershiy natsіonalny” channel.  In general, there were analyzed 761 materials with the marker words “displaced person”, “refugee”, “IDP”. Only 9% of the information, which was published in the national media, is useful for IDPs. The most popular references to IDPs in the context of other topics (not about their lives) is the policy of European integration of Ukraine, ATO fighter’s issue, events on the demarcation line, etc.

“It seems that the topic related to IDPs in the state media is illuminated on the residual principle. The usefulness of information raises the question; these people need it. Therefore, community and voluntary organizations, which do the things instead of the state, help IDPs. It was noted by Elena Petryayeva, the head of the initiative “Restoring Donbas”.

She also added that the project “power efficiency” does not end there. In future, it will be held on a monthly basis, facilitating public control over the effectiveness of the state. According to the results of the study, specialists of the initiative have worked out recommendations that will be sent to all interested members of the government.

The recommendations based on research

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine:

1. To approve a comprehensive program on support and social adaptation of internally displaced persons.
2. To work out a procedure for settlement of arrears of wages, scholarships and pensions, which have accumulated during ATO.
3. To approve a comprehensive program on support for vocational and higher education for children of immigrants.

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and people’s deputies of Donbas:

1. To regulate legally the possibility of obtaining compensation for destroyed housing and property during the hostilities.
2. To work out and adopt a provision, which prescribes the tools of benefits for displaced persons on the acquisition of property at the new place of residence.

Ministry of Justice of Ukraine:

1. To adopt clear rules of registration of children, who are born on the uncontrolled territory
2. To prescribe clear standards, which would approve the legal status of children, who have been orphaned in ATO area
3. To resolve the problem of the operating of single register of vicarious power on the permits of children’s transportation from ATO area.

Security Service of Ukraine:

Revise the ban on the transportation of medications, medical supplies, goods through the demarcation line.

Deputies of Donetsk and Luhansk region:

To work out a package of priority legislative initiatives on problems of IDPs and Donbas residents.
To send deputy requests to the authorities, to monitor the implementation of existing norms.

The Ministry of Information and other relevant agencies, editors of state media:

Pay attention to the lack of useful information for IDPs in materials and stories of state media, working for the taxpayers’ money, including IDPs themselves. To consider the possibility of correcting their work towards providing IDPs the necessary reference information.

The restoring-donbass.com website - is an interactive platform, which was created by the "Restoring Donbas" community initiative of Oleksandr Klymenko. The latest news, blogs and analysis, background information and useful ads for IDPs and Donbas residents are available on the website.