Activists Advocate for the Creation of a Singlebody Dealing with IDPs

Civil society activists advocate the establishment of a single body dealing with all matters relating to internally displaced persons. The activists are in the process of drafting a regulation and a letter to the President, explaining the necessity of creating such an institution.

The new body should coordinate the common efforts of governmental, non-governmental and international organizations, as well as volunteer initiatives, working on legal, housing, labour and other issues of concern to IDPs.

These questions were discussed during a work meeting, organized by the Centre for Civil Liberties, reports the correspondent of the Human Rights Information Centre.

There are numerous organizations dealing with IDPs, but coordination among them is inefficient. The new single body should provide a quick response to the problems of IDPs, be independent and open to collaboration with civil society activists. It should also control the public authorities’ compliance with legislation in the sphere of IDPs.

Additionally, the work of the body should be based on a long-term strategic program. At the moment Ukraine does not have a strategic vision regarding the problem of IDPs, says Iryna Dumych, project coordinator of the Centre for Civil Liberties.

“Nobody knows now, how this problem will develop. We are talking about 1 million citizens of Ukraine. The state does not have a vision regarding this problem”, – commented Dumych.

Moreover, the establishment of such a single-window body will not only help IDPs, but will also increase the state’s accountability towards the IDPs.

“Coordination among the bodies dealing with IDP matters is very weak for now. Due to the fact that there is no understanding, who is responsible for which area, we need to create such a body”, – said Valery Novikov, head of the human rights centre “Alternative”.

The coordinator of the civil society organization “DonbasSOS” Oleksandr Horbatko notes, that the IDP problem is a long-term challenge. International donors could provide their financial support, if Ukraine had a proper strategy for solving IDP issues.

“The war in Ukraine continues. Already now, we understand that those people, who left their homes, will not come back, irrespective of the final outcome of the conflict in the east. This problem will not be solved in one or two years. We have to think about it now. We have to find our own solution, taking into account the experience of other countries and best international practice”, – said Horbatko.