Displaced persons not compensated for destroyed housing

The procedure for granting displaced persons housing for temporary free of charge use has not been approved yet.

This is stated in the report, analyzing the problems of internally displaced persons in exercising their rights, prepared by the Vostok SOS Charity Foundation.

“Housing remains one of the major problems of displaced persons. Pursuant to the Article 19 of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons,” a displaced person shall have right to free of charge accommodation within six months upon the moment of registration. However, the procedure for use of such accommodation does not exist,” reads the report.

Another problem is compensation (reimbursement) for the destroyed housing. In accordance with the Article 19 of the Law of Ukraine “On Combating Terrorism”, the damage, inflicted on citizens following a terrorist act, shall be compensated at the expense of the State Budget of Ukraine in accordance with the law. However, such a law has still not been adopted.

The experts also state that the list of criteria of vulnerability of the displaced persons, taken into account when providing food and non-food humanitarian and financial assistance from the foundations and volunteers, is quite narrow.

Yet another problem is people, who for various reasons have not been registered as the displaced persons, as most charitable funds work only with the registered persons.

As a reminder, according to data from the report on assessing the needs of the displaced persons and host communities in eastern Ukraine, presented by the Internews International Public Organization on February 19, the basic information needs of the displaced persons are not met. Thus, they lack information about escape routes, humanitarian assistance, available housing and employment.