12% of surveyed displaced persons in Kharkiv region have problems with paperwork

35% of respondents say they have been denied apartment rental because they are displaced persons.

According to the Kharkiv Human Rights Group website, this is evidenced by the results of survey of manifestations of discrimination against displaced persons, conducted by Chuhuiv Human Rights Group (CHRG) in August.

The survey was conducted using a questionnaire, specially elaborated by the CHRG experts. The experts surveyed a total of 100 people residing in town of Chuhuiv and Chuhuiv, Pechenihy, Shevchenkove and other districts of Kharkiv region, who appealed to the Chuhuiv Station Centre for Support and Advice to IDPs.

46% of respondents came from Donetsk region, 54% came from Luhansk region. 73% of respondents have been residing in Kharkiv region for over six months already.

21% of respondents live in the places of compact settlement, 17% live at homes of their relatives or friends, 62% rent a room, apartment or house.

24% of surveyed displaced persons said they had experienced the hostile attitude of local residents, while 76% said they had never met malevolent people among the local residents.

12% of respondents reported they had faced groundless denials or delays in paperwork at the territorial divisions of the State Migration Service due to the fact they are displaced persons.

20% of respondents said they had been denied employment for the same reason. The displaced persons noted that employers often did not want to deal with them because of the temporary nature of their stay in Kharkiv. Only 11% of respondents reported on biased attitude on part of their colleagues. However, the major part of respondents faced the problems with apartment rental. Over 35% of respondents admitted they had been denied rental because they were displaced.

At the same time, none of respondents have felt pressure on part of the law enforcement agencies, or while entering or transferring to higher education establishments.

Although only 9% of the surveyed persons have complained about violation of their rights.

As a reminder, according to the Vostok SOS Charity Fund, the procedure for providing the displaced persons with housing for free temporary use has not been approved. In addition, the law that would reimburse the cost of housing, destroyed during the armed conflict, has not been yet adopted.