2020 ANNUAL REPORT | CF “RIGHT TO PROTECTION” (R2P)

13.08.21

In 2020, the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) focused not only on the provision of free legal aid to the internally displaced population, stateless, refugees, and victims of the hostilities but also on disaster risk reduction in eastern Ukraine and on the environmental issues, which are particularly relevant in today’s context. R2P started cooperation with the Amalgamated Territorial Communities (ATCs) and civil-military administrations (CMAs).

Our colleagues actively worked with the ATCs, CMAs, and local government representatives to increase their capacity, facilitate citizens’ access to administrative social services, and jointly develop housing solutions for IDPs. In 2020 some of the very important legislative acts came into force, such as the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine № 767 on the compensation for destroyed or damaged housing. COVID-19 is still spreading around the world. At the same time, our colleagues have been actively working to minimize the impact of numerous lockdowns for our beneficiaries and to continue to provide free legal consultations in an online format.

12.08.21

Svitlana was born in Ukraine in the 1960s and lived here almost all her life. For several years in the 80s, she lived in Russian SFSR, but since 1990 the woman has permanently settled in Ukraine. Svitlana had a passport of a former USSR. Since then it has been lost.

After the collapse of the USSR, Svitlana repeatedly tried to obtain a Ukrainian passport, but she failed to do so on her own, due to the impossibility to confirm her citizenship.

The woman decided to apply to the office of the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) in Slovyansk at the end of 2019. Nataliia Ishchenko, the lawyer of the Fund filed a lawsuit to establish the fact of Svitlana’s permanent residence in Ukraine as of August 24, 1991. The woman also had witnesses who could confirm in court that she had lived in Ukraine since 1990. However, in November 2020, the court refused to establish the relevant fact, despite the availability of all necessary evidence.

Since there had been no Stateless Determination Procedure in Ukraine at the time, Svitlana remained a person with undetermined citizenship, as both the Russian Federation and Ukraine did not recognize her as a citizen.

On April 16, 2021, the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on some issues of recognition as a stateless person came into force. Finally, Svitlana had the opportunity to apply to the territorial department of the State Migration Service and apply for recognition as a stateless person.

At the end of July, Svitlana received a certificate of application for recognition as a stateless person with the help of a lawyer of the R2P, being accompanied by the organization’s monitoring specialist. From now on, Svitlana has the right to live legally in Ukraine. In the future, in case of a positive decision, Svitlana will be able to obtain Ukrainian citizenship.

To be born in Ukraine and become stateless. The story of Svitlana Народитись в Україні та залишитися без громадянства. Історія Світлани

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11.08.21

Recently, a man turned to our colleagues for help. His name is Kostyantyn, he was born in 1968 in Uzbekistan. There he graduated from school, received a passport of a citizen of the USSR and married for the first time. Later he became a father of a son, and in 1989 the family moved to Ukraine, to the Odesa oblast.

Here in the early 2000s, Kostyantyn lost his passport. Unfortunately, he did not apply to the relevant authorities in time to restore the document. In the future, this in turn led to serious consequences. In 2012, the man applied to the Loziv District Department of the State Migration Service of Ukraine in Kharkiv Oblast, where it became clear that it was impossible to determine his citizenship due to the loss of documents.

Since then, Kostyantyn and his family have lived permanently in Ukraine, in the Loziv district of the Kharkiv oblast. He and his wife are raising seven children, including a child with disabilities.

In 2020, after long attempts to solve the problem with the lost documents and citizenship, employees of the Loziv Center for Social Services for Families, Children and Youth (CSSFCY) recommended man to apply to the Kharkiv office of the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P).

After a thorough interview, the lawyer of the R2P began a long and painstaking work. A request was sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan regarding the possible belonging of Kostyantyn to the citizenship of Uzbekistan. Thanks to the quick response of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan, it was possible to confirm that the man is not a citizen of this country.

A number of documents from the Odesa oblast were also collected in order to confirm the fact of Kostyantyn’s permanent residence in Ukraine as of August 24, 1991, which made it possible to establish this fact in court.

In October 2020, the above-mentioned court decision came into force, and Kostyantyn now had the legal grounds for acquiring Ukrainian citizenship. All that remained was to wait for changes to the current legislation, which would allow him to obtain the status and a document of a stateless person.

And finally, this day has come. Kostyantyn’s application for recognition as a stateless person was one of the first to be registered by the Loziv District Department of the State Migration Service of Ukraine in Kharkiv Oblast and then sent to the Main Department of the State Migration Service of Ukraine in Kharkiv Oblast for further processing and consideration. For the period while Kostyantyn’s application is being processed, he was provided with the relevant certificate – the first document which confirmed his identity and a certain status in Ukraine.

Kostyantyn and his wife are well aware that this is only the first step on the difficult path to Ukrainian citizenship. They are smiling because they hope that soon Kostyantyn will receive a passport of a citizen of Ukraine and will be able to get a job and benefit both his large family and the country of which he dreams of becoming a citizen.

We thank the employees of Loziv CSSFCY, Loziv City District Court of Kharkiv region, and employees of Loziv District Department of the SMS of Ukraine in Kharkiv region Rakhima Krasnorutska and Evhenia Pomnikova for high professionalism, incredible sensitivity, and constant willingness to cooperate and help people!

Перший крок до громадянства України. Історія Костянтина

Special thanks to our colleagues for this hard work, which allowed Kostyantyn to get one step closer to Ukrainian citizenship.

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09.08.21

The “Milove” Checkpoint is one of the most popular border crossing points among the citizens of Ukraine from the Non-Government Controlled Areas (NGCA).

When crossing the border, people face several issues which significantly complicate the exercise of the right to free movement, including the lack of adequate conditions and long queues. Therefore, the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) has recently started monitoring the situation at this checkpoint, recording human rights violations and providing legal advice to the beneficiaries.

For many residents of NGCA, the only road to the Government Controlled Area of Ukraine was the road through Russia and the “Milove” Checkpoint. When the work of Entry-Exit Checkpoints (EECP) in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts is being blocked by the illegal armed groups in the NGCA, people are forced to spend a lot of money, a lot of time, effort, and health and cover the distance that is three times as long as if they crossed through EECPs.

The history of this checkpoint is complicated by itself. “Milove” is an interstate checkpoint, which from the beginning of operation had a capacity of 500 pedestrians and 200 cars per day. Given the infrastructural features of the nearby settlements, Milove is located between the Russian city of Chertkovo and the Ukrainian city of Milove, literally on the road, and also on Russian territory. In 2018, Russian border guards began to install an iron fence in the middle of Druzhby Narodiv Street, where the checkpoint is located. After that, it was decided to move it and arrange it under a temporary scheme.

Modules for border guards and customs officers are installed directly on the roadway. This means that there are no conditions for people crossing the border: no place to hide from the weather, no benches to sit and rest. That’s what this Checkpoint has always been like.

For the first time, the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P) raised the issue of the conditions of crossing the “Milove” back in 2016, when the “Stanytsia Luhanska” EECP had not yet been set up as it is today. People choose the long way through “Milove” and spend up to 16 hours crossing the checkpoint. The number of people crossing daily was up to 2500 in 2016. Today, the figures have not decreased significantly – about 2000 persons. Yet, the conditions remained the same as in 2016.

Since then, the R2P has been periodically monitoring the situation at the “Milove” Checkpoint. For the most part, our beneficiaries were the people who were fined under Article 204 and then Article 204-1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. In 2021, about 50 cases led by the Severodonetsk R2P office lawyers were heard in court in favor of the beneficiaries who received fines upon crossing.

For all 5 years, our colleagues prepared reports, carried out advocacy campaigns, and done monitoring visits. This process has indeed been very protracted, but this year the situation has finally begun to change in the direction of improving the crossing conditions for Ukrainian citizens. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is currently negotiating the installment of the waiting modules for people who cross the border through the “Milove” Checkpoint.

БФ «Право на захист» надає допомогу під час перетину КП «Мілове» Charitable Fund "Right to Protection" (R2P) begins to provide free legal aid at the "Milove" Checkpoint

Until the new Checkpoint is built, thanks to UNHCR people from the temporarily occupied territories will be able to cross the border comfortably, and the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P), as a partner organization, will start working daily at “Milove” Checkpoint. All the people who need protection and/or require free legal aid can now contact the R2P monitoring specialists directly at the Checkpoint.

06.08.21

It is always a pleasure to tell these stories: they give hope that tomorrow will be better than yesterday, and the great feeling that our work does really matter.

Recently Svitlana, one of our beneficiaries, an IDP from Avdiivka, received housing, as well as the forgotten feeling of security and comfort. A woman, like most internally displaced persons, has a sad and difficult history.

Since 2014, she has moved from city to city, hoping for the best. She lived in the cities of Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih and had to pay most of the money she earned literally for a roof.

In 2015 Svitlana moved to the modular town of Nikopol and settled in a dormitory. However, this was temporary, because in February 2021 the term of operation of this dormitory expired. At first, it seemed as if there was nothing left to hope for anymore.

However, just then in the winter, our colleague Olena Pazenko, the monitor of the R2P regional office, visited the modular town. She came to talk about the housing programs for IDPs and possible resettlement options in the Dnipropetrovsk region, in particular, she told Ms. Svitlana about social housing in Kamyanske.

It was then when our beneficiary learned about this opportunity. Without any hesitation, she decided to go to Kamyanske. Olena Sukha, the monitor of the CF «Right to Protection» (R2P) met Svitlana and provided her with support and assistance in processing the documents, and a few weeks later Svitlana was already holding the keys to a beautiful one-room apartment.

«It was just incredible, literally an explosion of emotions. I am so happy for Svitlana. When she received the keys I felt like if it was me getting the keys to the long-awaited apartment»,
– tells our colleague Olena Sukha without hiding her happiness for Svitlana.

Alyona Skala, the head of the housing distribution department of the Kamyanske city council of the Dnipropetrovsk region noted that even today, seven years after the start of hostilities in Donbas, the housing issue still remains relevant for the internally displaced persons. Citizens, including the privileged category of IDPs, constantly apply to the city authorities.

«The city authorities always support citizens who need protection and try to help solve their problems»,
– says Alyona Skala.

Історії переселення. Спільними зусиллями - житло для ВПО

The CF «Right to Protection» (R2P) wishes Svitlana always to feel safe and cozy at her new home and congratulates our colleagues on such a successful work result.

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02.08.21

Vasyl Artemovych is a disabled person of the 1st group, he sees almost nothing. In his hometown of Luhansk, he felt everything by touch and knew the exact number of steps to his favorite park, pharmacy, and hospital. But 7 years ago, on August 5, 2014, he fled from Luhansk. He left his home without any hope of a quick return, left and learned to live in a new place, got used to local streets, to a new apartment.

Initially, Mr. Vasyl lived in Pavlohrad for a year. In November 2015, he moved to a modular town in Nikopol and then settled in a dormitory. But in February 2021 this dormitory was decommissioned. And again, it was the uncertainty and anticipation of the need to move to a new place, because in 5 years the apartment in the dormitory has already become something very similar to home.

After learning from Olena Pazenko, a monitor at the Dnipro office of the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P), about the possibility of relocating to Kamyanske, where the Ukrainian Social Investment Fund and local authorities were renovating a house into comfortable apartments for internally displaced persons, Vasyl Artemovych hoped that this might become a new home for him.

Thanks to Yevhen Romaniy, the director of the Municipal Enterprise “City Housing and Technical Inspection” of the Nikopol City Council, who provided the transport, Vasyl Artemovych, and 3 other IDPs were transported to Kamyanske to see the apartment: for him, it was unbelievable that a new house might be available somewhere.

The process of moving to Kamyanske was quite long, preceded by the months of waiting, but fortunately, everything is over. Ahead is a long life in a new apartment.

The story of resettlement. He finally found his new home in Kamyanske

Olena Sukha, a monitor of the R2P, who accompanied Mr. Vasyl to Kamyanske, says:

«The Kamyanske community is an example of caring and humane treatment of people. On the first day, as soon as Vasyl Artemovych received the keys to the one-room apartment, he was visited by the social workers of the Kamyanske Territorial Center for Social Services. From their first steps in the new community people felt like at home here.»

Mr. Vasyl believes in God. In his words of gratitude, he always repeats that the monitors of the Dnieper office CF “Right to Protection” (R2P) are his guardian angels, who helped him in the difficult times: redirected to the UNHCR humanitarian aid, sent warm clothes by mail in the winter, and when he was left homeless, he was assisted in moving to Kamyanske, where he found his new home and people with whom he felt confident and comfortable.

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