Review of the UPR Alternative Interim Report “State of Observance of the Rights of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Stateless Persons in Ukraine”

12.04.21

We bring to your attention the summary of the Alternative Interim Report within the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) “State of Observance of the Rights of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Stateless Persons in Ukraine“, prepared by a coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) concerned with the rights of the above-mentioned categories of persons: Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P), Charitable Foundation “Rokada”, NGO “The Tenth of April” (“Desyate Kvitnya”) and The International Fund for Public Health and Environment “Carpathian Region” NEEKA.

The report outlines the main systemic problems that lead to regular violations of the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless persons, as well as provides specific proposals to the Government on ways to address these problems.

Such problems include the de facto impossibility of temporary employment for asylum seekers and the absence or limited access of asylum seekers and their children to free health services.

For example, the CF “Right to Protection” provided legal assistance to the families of Afghan citizens who were forced to flee the country to escape the war and as a result, found protection in Ukraine. There is a minor child in the family who needs medical care, but it is not possible to sign a declaration with the family doctor because parents must provide a valid identity document (the application for protection is not recognized as an identity document).

Seeing a certificate for the protection, one by one the employers closed the doors to him because Ukrainian law requires them to obtain a work permit and to pay him an official salary of at least 10 minimum Ukrainian wages. As a result, he entered the market unofficially. Such work rarely goes unnoticed: in a few months, one receives a fine for informal employment.

To address these issues, the NGO coalition recommends amending a number of laws, providing for the right of applicants to work without a special employment permit for foreigners, and for the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to develop and submit to the Verkhovna Rada a bill on the provision of medical services to children whose parents do not have identity documents.

The State has made some significant achievements in this direction over the past year, such as the creation of a legislative foundation for the introduction and operation of the procedure for recognition as a stateless person. However, some of the issues identified in the report have not been addressed for many years and have been in the focus of past UPR reviews.

Among such problems is the unjustified detention of stateless persons for further identification and expulsion. For example, CF “Right to Protection” recently reported that a stateless person is threatened with detention. In this context, NGOs again recommend that detention be provided only as a last resort, when necessary and proportionate after all alternatives (starting with the least restrictive ones) have been exhausted.

The problem of the impossibility of identification related to imperfect legal regulation has become systemic: when checking citizenship, obtaining a passport of a citizen of Ukraine, obtaining a passport for the first time, establishing a person in court, etc. The second part of the report provides a list of legislative gaps and problems of law enforcement.

For example, a woman of the retirement age with a disability to whom the CF “Right to Protection” provided legal assistance is not able to work due to her health condition. Due to the lack of documents, the disability is not registered, she does not receive pensions or other payments, medical care is not available to her, she has no housing, and no relatives. The woman lives in an abandoned house without gas, electricity, water. Twice a week she goes to receive free food, packs it in a liter jar, and stretches it for a week.
From April 15, food will stop being distributed and so this woman will be left without any means for existence at all. Without the documents, she cannot receive any other assistance or payments from the state or volunteers. All of this is the consequence of the impossibility to identify her and provide the woman with a passport of a citizen of Ukraine. As it has been stated before, due to the lack of identity documents, the rights of such persons are repeatedly violated.

In this regard, the coalition of NGOs – the authors of this report, recommend legislatively improve the rules of the procedure for establishing an identity of a person, including the procedure for issuing a passport of a citizen of Ukraine.

The alternative report itself is posted on the website of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and presented on December 15, 2020, during the public discussion of the draft state interim report on the status of implementation of recommendations received from the 3rd cycle of the UPR.

What is the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)? Whose recommendations should the Government follow?

The UPR assesses the implementation of the human rights obligations by the States under the following instruments:

(1) the Charter of the United Nations;

(2) Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

(3) human rights instruments to which the State is a party (human rights treaties ratified by the State);

(4) voluntary statements and commitments of States (including national human rights policies and/or implemented programs); and,

(5) international human rights instruments. The UPR is a mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council, which conducts regular reviews of the implementation of human rights commitments and responsibilities by 193 UN member states four times a year. The review is conducted by the UPR Working Group, which consists of 47 members of the Human Rights Council.

**Taken from the Access Accountability Website**

This review takes place through a three-hour interactive dialogue between the State concerned, the member countries of the Council, and the observer countries. During this discussion, any UN Member State may ask questions, express its conclusions, and/or make recommendations to the State concerned.

The last review of Ukraine’s compliance with its commitments took place in 2017, as a result of which various countries around the world provided 201 recommendations to the Government of Ukraine on overcoming certain challenges in the field of human rights. The government supported 171 of these recommendations, in other words, recognized the need to implement them. The other 30 were left without official support from Ukraine, but this does not mean that they will be ignored.

For example, in 2012, Ukraine was recommended to ratify the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which the Government of Ukraine simply complied with without official support. In 2013 these documents were ratified.

Thus, the Government should report in 2023 (the next review of the state of human rights in Ukraine in the framework of the UPR) if it has implemented all the recommendations received in 2017 from the other states. A positive initiative was the interim reporting of Ukraine in 2020 on the progress already made, especially since such reporting is not mandatory. This report in particular did not overlook some issues regarding the rights of these categories in the Annex to the report.

Our report assesses the implementation of some of these recommendations, as well as an assessment of the observance of the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless persons in the country as a whole. We hope that, through and independently of the UPR mechanism, the situation of these vulnerable categories will be improved by addressing current and outdated challenges.

The infographics for this review are available in Ukrainian and English.

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09.04.21

Before the start of hostilities in the east of Ukraine, Volodymyr and his family lived in the village of Serebryanka in the Donetsk region.

On July 16, 2014, the village was shelled by the artillery. The projectile hit the roof of the house and, as a result, the man’s house was completely destroyed. The summer kitchen was also damaged.

house destroyed in the shelling to the compensation Від знищеного під час артобстрілу будинку до отримання компенсації. Історія бенефіціара БФ «Право на захист»

Volodymyr’s family found themselves homeless and left without any personal belongings. The only good thing in this situation is that no one was home at the time, so all the family members survived.

Because of the ongoing hostilities and the inability to live in the ruined house, Volodymyr was in despair. Their family was forced to move and rent a house. The man told his story to Iryna Abramova, a monitoring specialist at the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P).

Before meeting our colleagues, the man did not know that in 2020 changes were made to the procedure for providing and determining the amount of financial assistance from emergencies and the amount of compensation for victims of destroyed housing.

Thanks to the cooperation and interaction with the local united territorial communities, the specialists of the R2P were able to immediately apply to the leadership of the Siverska amalgamated territorial community (hromada) to help the man receive appropriate compensation.

The Siverska hromada responded quickly. To protect the interests of the community a commission was set up and went to Serebryanka to prepare an analysis of all the destructions. In the end result, a positive decision was made – to provide monetary compensation to our beneficiary.

Finally, Volodymyr and his family will be able to rebuild their home while the team of the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P) within the framework of cooperation with local communities will continue to provide free legal aid to those in need.

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06.04.21

In mid-March 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in case “TURDIKHOJAEV v. UKRAINE” (application no. 72510/12). The Court found that Ukraine had violated Article 3 and parts one and five of Article 5 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) concerning the prohibition of inhuman treatment and the right to liberty and security of person.

The case concerned a complaint of a citizen of Uzbekistan regarding his extradition detention in Ukraine after being recognized as a refugee by the Swedish government, as well as the conditions of his detention in the Kyiv Remand Prison inside the metal cell in the courtroom.

Uzbekistan Україна має виплатити 9000 євро громадянину з Узбекистану

The applicant was detained after arriving at Boryspil Airport in June 2012 as he was on the international wanted list at the request of Uzbekistan, and the Boryspil Court remanded him in custody for 30 days. Following his arrest, the applicant applied for refugee status.

In July 2012, Uzbekistan sent an extradition request, accusing this man of a membership in an extremist (fundamentalist) organization, distributing “subversive” literature, and attempting to overthrow the constitutional order in Uzbekistan. The Shevchenkivsky District Court applied an extradition arrest to the applicant for the duration of the extradition proceedings, but not more than 18 months.

In December 2012 the State Migration Service of Ukraine (SMSU) refused to recognize the applicant as a refugee. The court reviewed and extended the extradition arrest several times in 2012 and 2013. In January 2013 the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine decided to extradite the applicant to Uzbekistan. In February 2013, the Shevchenko court upheld the decision.

In March 2013 the District Administrative Court upheld the SMSU decision to deny the applicant refugee status. When the extradition case was heard in the Court of Appeal, the applicant was kept in a metal cage, although he begged not to do so, as he had not committed any violent crime and should have been presumed innocent in accordance with the constitutional principle of the presumption of innocence.

In April 2013 the applicant was recognized as a refugee by the Swedish Government and was allowed to settle in Sweden. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) immediately informed the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (PGOU) about this decision. The Swedish embassy in Ukraine also notified the PGOU about this fact. In accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, the recognition of the applicant as a refugee makes it impossible to extradite such a person.

However, the prosecutors did not pay attention to these circumstances and continued to defend their extradition decision, despite the fact that in mid-May 2013 they even received a copy of the decision to recognize the applicant as a refugee from the Swedish embassy.

At the end of May the Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal upheld the SMSU decision to deny the applicant refugee status.

In early June 2013 the Kyiv City Court of Appeal quashed the Migration Service decision to extradite the applicant. The next day after the applicant’s decision he was released. Later, he moved to Sweden, where he lives to this day.

From the end of June 2012 to the beginning of June 2013 the applicant was held in the Kyiv remand prison in various cells: for 7 days he was held in a 31.6 square meters cell together with 28 other detainees, for 45 days in a 34 square meters cell with 30 cellmates, 5 months in a cell with an area of 39.2 square meters together with 22 people and another 5 months in a cell with an area of 53.3 square meters with 33 cellmates. All these cells did not have ventilation, the conditions were unbearable. The applicant was defended in national courts by the ECtHR by the lawyers of the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P).

The ECtHR found a violation of Article 3 of the ECHR concerning the conditions of the applicant’s detention in a Kyiv pre-trial detention center and his placement in a metal cage during court hearings, a violation of Article 5 § 1 concerning the applicant’s extradition arrest until the moment of actual release (one and a half months), and violation of the fifth part of Article 5 regarding the lack of an effective legal mechanism for obtaining compensation for illegal detention at the national level.

The fair satisfaction awarded by the court in this case amounted to EUR 9,000, which the applicant shall receive from Ukraine within three months.

Although there have been no cases of recognized refugees detention for the purpose of extraditing since the events took place, violations of the rights of asylum seekers during the extradition procedure still exist. Thus, there is a conflict between the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Refugees and Persons in Need of Additional or Temporary Protection“, which requires a personal application for refugee status, while at the same time the law on detention does not allow to apply for such a status from the sites of imprisonment.

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02.04.21

For the 8-th year in a row the territories of Ukraine are occupied. Since then most internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been living in the new amalgamated territorial communities. These people have finally won the right to vote in local elections, but the state still treats them as the “temporary phenomenon” and continues to apply special rules and orders to them where the general ones must have long been applied.

This includes the restrictions on the choice of a bank to receive social and pension benefits (as of today, IDPs can receive above mentioned benefits only to the “Oschadbank” cards – ed.note), numerous checks on those who receive these benefits, and so on. It is time to acknowledge that the “temporality” of this situation has dragged on, so changes in legislation are needed to enable IDPs to integrate into the local communities.

Such changes should be provided by the recently registered Bill №4487 «On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine «On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons». After the Verkhovna Rada approval the Bill will deal with many issues, such as housing and IDP certificates, as well as and many other equally important issues.

But, in my opinion, one of the most important elements is the norm according to which the presence or absence of a certificate of registration of an internally displaced person cannot be a ground for restricting the exercise of the rights and freedoms provided by the Constitution, laws or international treaties of Ukraine with the exception of the cases when the IDP certificate guarantees additional benefits or guarantees, for example, receiving targeted assistance, free meals for children in educational institutions, annual rehabilitation, etc.

These changes should be the first step in resolving the problems of the internally displaced. Then, in order to comply with the adopted law, amendments to a number of bylaws must be also adopted. After all, it is necessary to finally give IDPs the right to choose the bank where they wish to receive benefits (“Oschadbank” is not the only state bank), it is necessary to cancel the resolution №365 and the so-called “home inspections”, which are not carried out now due to quarantine, but we know that after the end of the quarantine these restrictions may get back.

IDP Oschadbank card issue карта ощадбанка для ВПО — Oschadbank – the only bank which IDPs can use to receive their hard-earned pensions or social benefits

The state always talks about unifying approaches, but in fact does little to implement it, especially when it comes to the internally displaced persons. It is time to erase those artificial lines between “ours” and “theirs”, because we are all the People of Ukraine, the country to which the war came. It should unite us, not divide.

AUTHOR:

Anastasia Odintsova,

Advocacy Lawyer

Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P)

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01.04.21

Today we present the report “IDPs housing needs, intentions and opportunities. Dnipropetrovska, Zaporizka, and Kharkivska oblasts.”, prepared by the CF “Right to Protection”. Main goals of the report were to collect and systematize the housing needs of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) using the survey method, as well as to gather the monitoring data on residential buildings that can be reconstructed and further used as temporary or social housing for IDPs. Relevant recommendations and conclusions were also prepared.

Since the conflict outbreak, the State has launched six programmes to respond to the housing issue, which aim to provide both short-term and long-term solutions. Regarding the previously done analysis of existing programmes, we can presume that they cannot fully respond to the acute issue and that other solutions should be sought out and implemented.

To date, no comprehensive housing analyses have been conducted within Dnipropetrovska, Zaporizka, and Kharkivska oblasts where almost a fifth of all IDPs is registered (the biggest numbers after the conflict-affected Donetska and Luhanska oblasts, and Kyivska oblast and Kyiv). To address this, the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) monitored settlements in these oblasts with regard to available housing, and surveyed IDPs on their needs and awareness.

R2P representatives have conducted 444 monitoring visits to 282 settlements in Dnipropetrovska, Zaporizka, and Kharkivska oblasts. As a result, 898 objects were identified in 170 settlements of 68 raions of the three oblasts. The majority of objects are located in Dnipropetrovska Oblast.

Report IDPs Housing Needs, Intentions and Opportunities. Dnipropetrovska, Zaporizka and Kharkivska Oblasts

Read more about our survey in the report:

English

Ukrainian.

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of “Right to Protection” and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of UNHCR.

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31.03.21

To the Committee

of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

on the law enforcement activities

Mykhaila Hrushevskoho Street, 5,

Kyiv, 01008

[email protected]

Ex. № 134

from 05.03.2021

Proposals of the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P) to the draft Law on Amendments to the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses for improving the Migration legislation

Introduction

On November 20, 2020 a Draft Law on the Amendments to the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses to Improve Migration Legislation was submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

The Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) draws the attention of the subject of the legislative initiative and legislators to the fact that the provisions of this bill affect the situation of asylum seekers in Ukraine, and therefore considers it necessary to provide an analysis of the bill in this regard.

The essence of the bill

The draft law was developed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in order to prevent and counteract illegal migration in Ukraine, ensure state security and approximate Ukrainian legislation to international standards.

It provides for the improvement of the norms of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses, which establishes the liability for violations of migration legislation.

Thus, in particular, Article 203 of the Code of Administrative Offenses is proposed in eight parts, each of which provides for different sanctions.

Regarding the imposition of an administrative penalty on asylum seekers

According to the draft Law, Part 2 of Art. 203 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Ukraine provides for liability for stay in Ukraine without a certificate of application for protection in Ukraine in the form of a fine of one hundred to two hundred non-taxable minimum incomes (i.e., from 1700 to 3400 hryvnias).

Thus, for the first time, the project singles out a special subject of the offense – a protection seeker (person who applied for protection in Ukraine).

The procedure for applying for protection and the legal status of asylum seekers in Ukraine is regulated by the Law of Ukraine “On Refugees and Persons in Need of Additional or Temporary Protection”.

The same law stipulates that a certificate of application for protection in Ukraine is a document certifying the legality of a person’s stay on the territory of Ukraine for the period from the moment a person applies for refugee or a person in need of additional protection until the final determination of such person’s status or until leaving the territory of Ukraine. The certificate of application for protection is not an identity document.

The treatment of refugees staying illegally in the country is regulated by Article 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), referring to this article, states that the measures taken by the state in these cases should be proportionate to the legitimate aim and applied on an individual case-by-case basis.

As stated in the Strategy of State Migration Policy of Ukraine for the period up to 2025, the policy on asylum seekers should take into account the “humanitarian component, which provides for the sympathy of government officials and other stakeholders, as well as the society.“

Persons whose legality of stay in Ukraine is certified by an application for protection, usually do not speak Ukrainian, do not have legal means of self-sufficiency, are not familiar with the requirements of Ukrainian legislation on the rules of stay in Ukraine and, accordingly, need a significant period of time to integrate into the Ukrainian society. These features must be taken into account as effectiveness of legal influence on above mentioned persons is dependent on it.

One of the alternative sanctions under Art. 203 of the draft is that the initiator of the bill provides a warning. The warning in fact combines a formal condemnation of a person’s illegal behavior (an administrative offense with a minor degree of social harm) and informing the person about the inadmissibility of such behavior in the future.

Given the above, such a reaction of the state to the violation committed by the seeker of protection is optimal and proportionate to the legitimate aim in the context of further integration of this person into Ukrainian society.

Regarding the access to the Stateless Determination Procedure

On June 16, 2020, the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning Recognition as a Stateless Person” was adopted, which provides for the procedure for recognition as a stateless person in Ukraine.

According to the second paragraph of the second part of Article 4 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons” a person who cannot obtain a passport document due to not being considered a citizen by any state has the right to apply to the State Migration Service for recognition as a stateless person, regardless of the legality or illegality of his stay in Ukraine.

The guidance of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on the protection of stateless persons, noted in paragraphs 68-69, suggests that the states which introduce the Stateless Determination Procedure must ensure the actual access of such persons to the procedure for the purpose of its efficiency and fairness.

It is emphasized that access to the procedure for recognition as a stateless person should be provided for every person. Achieving this goal is impossible if an undocumented person who meets the criteria of a stateless person and intends to apply for recognition as a stateless person is afraid of administrative liability for violation of the order of stay in Ukraine.

It should be noted that persons with uncertain citizenship, who apply for legal aid to the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) in order to obtain citizenship and obtain a passport, report to be held administratively liable under Article 203 of the Code.

In the practice of European countries, such as France, Moldova, Switzerland, Spain, Bulgaria, there are no fines / fees for applicants for recognition as a stateless person.

Suggestions

In order to bring Article 203 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Ukraine in accordance with the provisions of Articles 4 and 6-1 of the Law of Ukraine “On Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons” we consider it necessary to supplement part three of Article 203 of the Code, providing that this article does not apply in cases of absence of the specified documents at the person who addresses in the established order with the statement on recognition as the stateless person at the moment of the address.

In order to ensure the effectiveness of legal influence on asylum seekers, taking into account the humanitarian component, we consider it necessary to supplement the second part of Article 203 of the Code with an alternative sanction – a warning.

A Comparative table with the proposals of the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) is attached.

With Regards,

President

of the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection”(R2P)

Oleksandr Galkin

30.03.21

On Wednesday, March 24, the National Human Rights Strategy was approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine of March 24, 2021 № 119/2021 and entered into force on this same day.

This is a strategic document, the main purpose of which is to ensure and support the human rights and freedoms of the citizens of Ukraine. This goal should be achieved, in particular, by solving the main systemic problems through supporting and protecting human rights and freedoms in the face of new challenges. The document was approved to replace the previous Strategy, which lost its relevance together with the completion of the Action Plan at the end of last year. The goals set by the Strategy should be achieved by implementing specific steps approved by the Action Plan, which will be adopted every three years.

The human rights strategy was prepared in coordination with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine with the involvement of the civil society sector in 2020. The participation of national and international organizations, activists, experts and scholars in the process of developing the Strategy is extremely important due to the possibility of a constructive dialogue between the Government on the one hand and the public on the other.

The new Human Rights Strategy does not bypass the problem of statelessness in Ukraine. In particular, in the context of creating a new procedure for recognition as a stateless person of Ukraine, it sets tasks and raises appropriate expectations:

to ensure the possibility of realization of the right to work, healthcare and social protection to those who have applied for the recognition as stateless persons;
to ensure access to the mechanism of recognition as a stateless person, regardless of the fact of a person’s stay in Ukraine on the legal grounds.

In order for the population of the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) to retain the citizenship of Ukraine:

to ensure the issuance of identity documents and proof of citizenship of persons residing in the TOT, in the manner prescribed by law at the place of application;
to develop and implement a single out-of-court mechanism for confirmation and state registration of civil status acts of citizens residing in the TOT.

Thus, a common understanding of the ways to solve the problem of statelessness in Ukraine and avoid the threat of statelessness for TOT residents is present in the Strategy. This is definitely a positive result of the work of the civil sector. The next step is to approve the Action Plan, which will determine the exact actions of the authorities and other actors, the use of which will lead or bring us closer to achieving these goals.

At the same time, the central executive bodies refuse to plan in the measures to identify undocumented persons, even in certain regions of the country. These measures are prescribed into the draft from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine «On approval of the Action Plan for the implementation of the National Strategy for Human Rights for 2021-2023». The implementation of these measures was planned by the previous Action Plan for 2016 (!), But in the absence of a Stateless Determination Procedure (SDP) in Ukraine as such and were considered inappropriate at the moment.

The position of the authorities seems to be so much inconsistent that the State Migration Service of Ukraine plans to carry out explanatory work on the requirements of the legislation regarding the new Stateless Determination Procedure which will enter into the force with the Cabinet of Ministers resolution «On some issues regarding the recognition as a stateless person».

«Active actions on the part of the Government concerning documenting the stateless persons, as well as encouraging the documentation of other persons that do not have identity documents, properly informing the public about current procedures and administrative services regarding this issue should be carried out independently of plans and strategies, especially when implementing the Stateless Determination Procedure. It is impossible for Ukraine to fulfill obligations under the 1954 Convention concerning the Status of Stateless Persons if stateless persons are itself not identified within a country.»
– said Ksenia Karahiaur, Legal Analyst at Right to Protection (R2P).

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25.03.21

On March 19 and 24, 2021, the Right to Protection (R2P) held webinars on the Protection Mainstreaming for the representatives of public authorities in Ukraine.

The events were joined by the representatives of the Popasna Raion State Administration, Toretsk Civil-Military Administration, Education Departments, Primary Care Centers, Public Information Units, Police Departments and Child Protection Offices.

Webinars: «Practice of application of the international standards in civil protection: problems and opportunities» Вебінари «Практика застосування міжнародних стандартів у цивільному захисті: проблеми та можливості»

During the webinars best practices, positive experiences, as well as the existing challenges and issues in the field of public protection were discussed.

In particular, participants of the online events had the opportunity to learn about:

How to be better prepared for emergencies?
How to ensure protection for the most vulnerable groups?
How to organize efficient interaction between different agencies in a crisis context?

Webinars were held within the framework of «Reducing Risk Vulnerability in Eastern Ukraine» Project which is funded by USAID (in particular, by its Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, BHA), and has been implemented since 2019 by 3P Consortium led by ACTED.

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25.03.21

On March 17, the Kharkiv office of the Right to Protection (R2P) organized an online webinar to discuss problematic issues in working with the «Social Hromada» system.

The event was joined by the representatives of the amalgamated territorial communities (hromadas), Administrative Service Centers (ASC) and the Department of Labor and Social Protection in the Kharkiv region.

During the webinar, officials who have been working with the program for a long time and those who have just joined were given the opportunity to share their experiences and advice.

What is a «Social Hromada»?

The information system «Social Hromada» is a client-server WEB-application, which is designed to bring administrative social services to the residents of the amalgamated territorial communities.

Advantages of the «Social Hromada» program for officials who work in amalgamated communities:

Professionals can process information and provide administrative services much faster. This makes a great workflow optimization – information can be processed by only one employee. Without using the «Social Hromada» same amount of work requires multiple employees to handle one particular task;
Head of the territorial community and specialists of the social protection service can monitor the processing of applications and carry out a quick search for any required data. This is possible due to the presence of an electronic “log of appeals”.

Advantages of the «Social Hromada» program for the population:

No need to go, for example, to a remote district center in order to receive social administrative services;
Possibility to track the status of applications online after contacting the “front” office.

Right to Protection (R2P) expresses special gratitude to the speakers of the webinar: Tetyana Shevchenko, head of the department of social protection of the executive committee of Bilozirka village council; Nonna Turlo, Head of the Department of Automated Documentation Processing and Social Monitoring of the Department of Social Protection of the Chuhuiv District State Administration; Maryna Torbina, a specialist in the social protection department of the Merefa City Council.

R2P actively cooperates with the united territorial communities in order to ensure the protection of the rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

UNHCR Ukraine

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