State needs one law on protection of the rights of internally displaced persons instead of a dozen initiatives — human rights defenders

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, 11 draft laws have been registered in the Verkhovna Rada, that provide for amendments to the law “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons”. However, human rights defenders believe that these initiatives have a number of problems.

Among them, there are those who propose to exempt internally displaced persons from paying for housing and communal services in places of temporary residence, to grant them the right to free travel on all types of public transport, to include them in the category of employees who have a priority right to remain at work in case of layoffs, and much more. 

However, despite the generally correct and necessary proposals, most of these draft laws are not consistent with the already implemented state policy on internally displaced persons, lack financial justification, and provide for point changes as a response to urgent problems.

In addition, representatives of human rights non-governmental organisations believe that such amendments can artificially increase the number of IDPs and aggravate the already difficult life circumstances of vulnerable groups.

Human rights defenders say that instead of uncoordinated amendments that duplicate existing laws, the country needs a single document that would provide comprehensive responses to the challenges of internal displacement. Human rights defenders point out that such a document is the draft Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons”, which needs to be registered and supported by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

Below are the key points and warnings from human rights defenders regarding each draft law:

No. 7507 — proposes to exempt internally displaced persons for the period of martial law from paying for housing and communal services in places of temporary residence and cancel restrictions on the period of accommodation. The government should provide for a procedure for granting compensation for housing and communal services to the owners (balance holders) of property used for compact settlement of IDPs. However, the issues proposed to be settled by the adoption of the draft law have already been settled at the level of government resolutions.

No. 8020 — proposes to grant IDPs the right to free travel throughout Ukraine by all types of public transport for the period of martial law. This is the responsibility of local executive authorities and local governments. At the same time, the draft law did not propose options for compensation to carriers and local self-government bodies. It is stated that its implementation does not require additional costs, which is not true.

No. 9653 — proposes to establish the purpose of the housing allowance, define the categories of recipients and the individual fixed amount of the allowance per person, the procedure for its appointment and the grounds for termination. The fixed amount does not take into account inflationary processes. The sources of funding are also uncertain, which, in the absence of funding, could lead to an increase in the number of court proceedings due to the state’s inability to fulfil its obligations.

No. 10017 — proposes to define that insurance payments will be made to IDPs from the temporarily occupied territories (hereinafter — TOT) if they have the necessary documents confirming the right to such payments. In the absence of such documents, they will be paid on the basis of data obtained from various databases and registers in the minimum amount (set by the Pension Fund of Ukraine). The recalculation will be carried out upon receipt of the documents. Contains duplication of existing laws and inconsistencies. Amendments apply to a limited group of IDPs.

A full overview of the draft laws is available here.