Right to Protection is an NGO dedicatedto protecting the rights of asylum seekers, refugees, stateless andundocumented persons, as well as internally displaced and conflict affected persons.
Category: Stateless persons
24.06.21
Indira is the mother of many children. The woman turned for help to R2P in 2018. Her eldest son Roman did not have a birth certificate. Indira became pregnant at a young age and gave birth to children at home. Back in 2005 when the woman gave birth to Roman, she did not know how to get a birth certificate, as well as in 2018, when she gave birth to another child.
Our lawyer made several inquiries, after which a statement was prepared to the court to establish the fact of the child’s birth. However, the court refused to open the case, believing that Indira had other ways to obtain a son’s birth certificate. The Kharkiv Court of Appeals generally recommended forcing civil registry offices to register the birth of 13-year-old Roma, ignoring the current legislation on the required list of documents.
In 2020, the Supreme Court of Ukraine, in its ruling, ordered the Ordzhonikidze District Court to open a case and consider an application to establish the fact of Roman’s birth. At the request of our lawyer, a costly genetic examination was ordered, the funds for which were allocated by the R2P. DNA testing proved the fact that Roman was Indira’s son.
But the joy of our lawyer was suddenly overshadowed – the telephone connection with Indira was lost, none of the available telephone numbers were serviced. The lawyer only knew that Indira and her children had recently moved to Kryvyi Rih… The real search began then.
On the verge of despair, the lawyer turned to the contact center of the city of Kryvyi Rih – and it worked! The next day, Natalia Ryabushenko, the head of the Executive Committee of the Department of Social Guarantees and Payments (Department of Labour and Social Protection of the Ternivka District Council), called and volunteered to help.
She not only provided the information available to her but also searched through the other areas in the city and then called us back and told our lawyer the address at which Indira was registered. Later, Olena Pazenko, a monitor of the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P), joined the cause to help Roman. It was she who completed the creation of a miracle for the boy. As a result, Roman finally got the long-awaited document – legal proof of his existence.
Now Roman is waiting for a visit to the State Migration Service of Ukraine to obtain a passport of a citizen of Ukraine.
The only thing to add to this story is that it is very difficult to provide full legal assistance at a distance, given the vulnerability and insecurity of our beneficiaries… But the sensitivity and humanity cover miles, creating real miracles and giving faith in a better future! Many thanks to the colleagues and everyone who helped.
«Sometimes, it seems that a little can surprise me at work, yet some impossible scenarios may arise from time to time. When I speak with our beneficiaries I just don’t understand how they manage to endure and overcome the obstacles that were artificially created by the state.»
– says Ruslan Bereteli, a lawyer of the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P).
The story of our cooperation with Mariabegan in the winter of 2020, when a woman came to the Kurakhiv office of the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P) with a request for help. For almost an hour, she, a native of Donetsk city, told how she studied and worked in her hometown, how she got married and gave birth to two daughters. At first, it seemed like a usual life of an ordinary person. Yet there was one moment: for all this time she did not exist legally – in her 31st year, she did not have a passport or any other relevant identity documents. She couldn’t receive birth certificates for her children, couldn’t get an official job, or buy train/plane tickets.
«First of all, we had to confirm the fact that Maria lived on the territory of Ukraine as of 1991. According to my own legal experience at R2P, I have never seen such a motivated client before. Each instruction regarding the collection of evidence was carried out almost instantly: a relative of our client in Donetsk searched for evidence in the school where our beneficiary studied, and in the hospital, where she was registered since childhood. We also were able to receive certificates from the company where Maria’s mother worked. She managed to find the student’s personal file, medical card, certificates, and much more.»
– says Ruslan Bereteli.
The evidence of Maria’s residence in Ukraine as of 1991 was indisputable, and therefore the woman had the right to be recognized as a citizen of Ukraine. However, in court, despite the obvious evidence, a representative of the State Migration Service (SMS) opposed establishing this fact. Leonid Serafimovych, a lawyer of the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P), argued and insisted on the beneficiary’s position, and the court supported our side.
For several months, the Migration Service did not comply with the court’s decision: Maria was not provided with the application form, demanded to provide some non-existing evidence, offered to wait for the head of the service, and so on. The difficult issue of legal support to the State Migration Service of Ukraine department could not be resolved, because once again it was advised to “wait for the SMS head”…
So our lawyers did. CF “Right to Protection” turned directly to the head of the State Migration Service of Ukraine. The case was immediately taken under control, and the documents were accepted. Within three months, Maria received a certificate of belonging to Ukrainian citizenship and later – a passport.
Until now, the woman had to use copies of recently received birth certificates. Now she was able to pick up the originals. Maria also reissued her lost registration number of the taxpayer’s account card. There is a lot of work behind, yet no less ahead – now a woman will have to deal with making a comfortable life for herself and her children: get an official job, apply for social benefits, and more. But, as Maria says:«The passport opens all doors. A truly universal key»
The State Migration Service of Ukraine (SMSU) advised Halyna Mykhailivna to turn CF “Right to Protection” (R2P). SMSU staff began assisting the woman in obtaining a passport when they discovered a strange fact – the record of a woman’s birth was missing from the State Register of Civil Status.
It is known that Halyna Mykhailivna was born in 1956 in the city of Kupyansk, Ukrainian SSR. The woman received a birth certificate, on the basis of which she graduated from school and entered the institute. On her 16th birthday, she received a passport of a citizen of the USSR. In 1983, the woman officially married, which was recorded in the State Register of Civil Status.
When all of Halyna Mykhailivna’s documents were lost, it became necessary to obtain a birth certificate again. It is necessary to issue a passport of a citizen of Ukraine in the form of an ID card.
Halyna Mykhailivna turned to the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) for help. Our lawyer had a detailed interview with the woman and made a number of inquiries, but in the end, there was a sad confirmation that there was no data about the woman’s birth at all. Neither an act entry in the State Register of Civil Status Acts nor information in the Birth Registration Books – like if Halyna Mykhailivna never existed.
On the basis of previously collected evidence, the lawyer of the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P) filed a lawsuit in the interests of Halyna Mykhailivna. And only a court decision was able to establish the birth of a woman.
Thanks to the fast and coordinated work of the Kholodnohirsky department of the State Registrar of the Acts of Civil Status, the woman was holding a birth certificate the next day. This was the first and most important step on the way to the dream passport. No wonder ancient wisdom teaches: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.
We thank the employees of the Kholodnohirsky District Department of State Registration of Civil Status Acts of the Eastern Interregional Department of Justice of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine (in Kharkiv) for their high professionalism and humanity in providing assistance!
Our colleagues continue to work on the registration of the passport for Halyna Mykhailivna. We will inform you of the progress in it in the near future!
Fakhridin was born in 1993 in Tajikistan. At the age of 15, he moved to Ukraine together with his mother. His first place of residence was the village of Pikuzy (old name – Kominternove, Novoazovsk district, currently a Non-Government Controlled Area of Ukraine).
There he received education and successfully completed nine classes. Later he lived and studied in Volnovakha and Mariupol, where in 2013 he graduated from the Mariupol Vocational Lyceum of Motor Transport and received a truck crane driver certificate.
In Mariupol, Fakhridin started a family, and later two children were born – a boy and a girl. All this time, for almost 15 years, he tried to get an identity document in Ukraine to have the right to work legally and become a full member of society.
However, due to the gaps in the legislation, it was not possible. No matter how much he tried to apply to the Migration Service, he always received denials and threats to be forcibly deported…
Our colleagues have taken all the necessary legal actions to help. A lawsuit was initiated and the fact of Fakhridin’s family relationship with his sister, who lives in Mariupol and has the status of a citizen of Ukraine, was established.
This year, thanks to changes in legislation and court decisions, it has become possible to apply to the State Migration Service of Ukraine for recognition as a stateless person.
In addition, Fakhridin became the first applicant for a Stateless Determination Procedure in the Donetsk region. Now he believes and hopes that Ukraine will take his side and recognize his right to exist, so he will be able to work legally, sign a declaration with a doctor and never again be afraid of forced deportation!
Mykhailo was born in the late 1960s in the Kursk region of the former USSR. In 1984, the man moved to a permanent residence in the Donetsk region. Here he received education and his first passport as a citizen of the USSR. He later started to work and got married.
Mykhailo did not receive the passport of a citizen of Ukraine in time due to the lack of the necessary forms. However, in his USSR passport, he was marked as a “Citizen of Ukraine”. The man lived with this document until the 2000s, but then he lost his passport.
For several years, a man tried in vain to obtain a passport of a citizen of Ukraine. Due to the fact that the man did not have any document confirming his citizenship, the State Migration Service of Ukraine refused to document him with a passport of a citizen of Ukraine.
In August 2020, Mykhailo turned to the Slovyansk office of the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) for help in obtaining a passport. The lawyer made numerous inquiries in order to obtain evidence of the man’s permanent residence in Ukraine as of 24 August 1991. Witnesses who agreed to appear in court to confirm Mykhailo’s residence in Ukraine also helped to prove his identity.
After receiving sufficient evidence, the lawyer sent a statement to the court establishing the fact of Mykhailo’s permanent residence on the territory of Ukraine as of August 24, 1991.
The court granted the application, and with this decision, Mykhailo applied to the State Migration Service of Ukraine department to obtain a certificate of registration as a citizen of Ukraine.
In early April, the man received a long-awaited passport. With this document, a man will finally be able to undergo a full medical examination.
«Life turned upside down when I was hit by a car and suffered a severe leg fracture. Without documents, I could not even pass a medical examination, »
– Mykhailo said with hope after he received the passport of a citizen of Ukraine.
Yet, the story did not end there
A few years ago, a tragedy occurred in his life: he was hit by a car at a crosswalk and his leg was broken and not cured.
Without documents, Mykhailo was unable to seek medical help and has been using crutches all this time, thus risking having gangrene because his leg was broken and not healed for several years.
After receiving his passport, Mykhailo underwent a medical examination and hopes to have surgery. Having signed a declaration with the family doctor, he finally has the opportunity to seek surgical help.
However, the man faced a new problem. The operation costs 20,000 hryvnias, but he does not have money and, due to his health condition, he is not able to earn it alone.
Mykhailo applied to multiple banks for a loan, but each bank denied him because he had no official source of income.
Mykhailo requires urgent leg surgery. It is the only chance to save his leg from amputation due to gangrene.
On April 16, 2021, the procedure for recognition as a stateless person was introduced in Ukraine. As of now applications are actively being accepted and reviewed. Meanwhile, the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) provides free legal assistance to persons who need to confirm citizenship or obtain an official status of a stateless person.
During this month, lawyers of the CF “Right to Protection” helped 5 persons to apply for a stateless status, and on May 26, the State Migration Service of Ukraine (SMSU) accepted applications from two more of our beneficiaries in the Luhansk and Sumy regions. Unfortunately, not all departments and divisions of the SMSU accept applications yet, but gradually such an opportunity will open up for all the regions in Ukraine.
We offer you to get acquainted with the difficult path of a man who wants to be recognized as a stateless person, whose application is currently being considered in Severodonetsk, in the Luhansk region.
Wali was born in Tajikistan. In 1986 he came to study in the Luhansk region, where, after graduating from high school, he married, started a family, and decided to stay and live. Until 1993, he lived with a passport of a citizen of the former USSR, which he received in Tajikistan, but later he lost it.
In 1993, instead of losing his passport due to a lack of passport forms, Wali received a certificate with a photo. This was explained by the fact that in 1993 the passports of the citizens of the USSR of the 1974 model were no longer issued, and the passport forms of the citizens of Ukraine were not yet available. Wali lived with this certificate for almost 30 years and was never able to obtain a passport of a citizen of Ukraine.
The Migration Service refused to do so due to no possibility to confirm the citizenship of Ukraine. The reason for the refusals was that the man had changed his place of registration several times and, as of 24 August 1991, had not been registered anywhere.
To confirm the fact of living in Ukraine at this time, Wali decided to contact our organization. The lawyer of the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P) helped to collect all the necessary documents on the man’s residence, involved witnesses, and filed an application in the court to establish the fact of Wali’s residence on the territory of Ukraine as of August 24, 1991. But the Severodonetsk City Court denied the application due to a lack of evidence to establish this fact. The appellate court upheld the decision of the Severodonetsk City Court.
Having no confirmation of either the citizenship of Tajikistan or Ukraine, Wali remained de-facto stateless and had no official legal confirmation of his status.
With the adoption of the Stateless Determination Procedure on March 24, 2021, there was great hope for obtaining such a status. This will allow people like Wali to be able to enjoy life at its fullest: be employed officially, get married, buy real estate or a car, receive social protection and medical aid, move freely and travel abroad, and so on.
«Thanks to fruitful cooperation with the management and technical capabilities of the software of the Severodonetsk branch of the State Migration Service of Ukraine in the Luhansk region, Wali’s appeal was accepted together with documents and three witnesses. It took employees almost 7 hours to properly process his application. The man received a certificate of application for recognition as a stateless person, confirming his stay on the territory of Ukraine on legal grounds during the entire period of consideration of the application, which is 6 months,»
– says the lawyer of the R2P Serhiy Mykhailov.
«We welcome the first applicants who have exercised their right to apply for a stateless status. We have been waiting for this moment for many years, and now we are happy to inform our beneficiaries who have been invisible for many years that they can finally submit documents for consideration and determination of their legal status, »
– said Sofia Kordonets, Manager of the R2P Project “Legal assistance to stateless persons in Ukraine”.
We hope for quick and positive consideration of the application of Wali and all the other people who were first to access it!
Dmytro Hryhorovych was born back in 1951 in the city of Makiivka, which is currently in a Non-Government Controlled Area in Ukraine. During the Soviet era, the man lived in different parts of the former Soviet Union, including Georgia.
In 1980, Dmytro Hryhorovych received a passport of a citizen of the former USSR. However, this passport was lost in the 90s. It was not possible to restore it because the Soviet Union collapsed and the former Soviet republics became independent nations with their own migration structures.
Despite the fact that Mr. Dmytro lived in Ukraine, wherever he tried to apply, he was denied both the passport and citizenship. He was required to provide the original of the lost passport, which he had received in Georgia, as well as the court decisions confirming permanent residence in Ukraine in 1991. And an infinite number of other certificates…
Several lawsuits dragged on for years… Dmytro Hryhorovych continued to receive refusals from the Migration Service to issue a passport with different explanations.
The man turned to the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) for help. Our specialists took immediate measures to help Mr. Dmytro to obtain a passport. Multiple documents were received from the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the courts, and the State Migration Service of Ukraine (SMSU), and as result, the new birth certificate was obtained.
It took our colleagues almost a year to help Dmytro Hryhorovych and to fulfill all the requirements of the SMSU. But the result was totally worth it – Dmytro Hryhorovych finally received his long-awaited passport as a citizen of Ukraine. He was 70 at the time!
Now a man can implement everything he was always dreaming about – to work officially and be insured, to have the right to a pension and medical care, to be useful to society, and to help people.
At least 10 million people worldwide are stateless, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) [1]. The organization estimates that approximately 40,000 stateless persons are living in Ukraine. At the same time, no single institution in our country collects accurate data on the number of such people. Who are they and why did the problem of statelessness arise at all? Let’s try to find out. But first, let’s look at the definitions that will help to do it.
GLOSSARY
Stateless person (or just “Stateless”) – a person whom no country in the world recognizes as its citizen [2].
A person at the risk of statelessness – a person who has difficulty confirming the fact of belonging to the citizenship of Ukraine or any other state [3].
An unidentified person is an undocumented person whose nationality is unknown.
An undocumented person is a person who, due to certain life circumstances, does not have an identity document.
Identity documents: a passport of a citizen of Ukraine; passport of a citizen of Ukraine for travel abroad; diplomatic passport of Ukraine; service passport of Ukraine; seafarer’s identity card; crew member ID; identity card for return to Ukraine; temporary identity card of a citizen of Ukraine; driving license; stateless identity card for travel abroad; permanent residence permit; temporary residence permit; migrant certificate; refugee certificate; refugee travel document; certificate of a person in need of complementary protection [4].
Documents confirming the citizenship of Ukraine: a passport of a citizen of Ukraine; passport of a citizen of Ukraine for travel abroad; diplomatic passport of Ukraine; service passport of Ukraine; seafarer’s identity card; crew member ID; identity card for return to Ukraine; temporary identity card of a citizen of Ukraine [5].
Naturalization – the process of granting a foreigner or a stateless person the citizenship of Ukraine [6].
Certificate of application for recognition as a stateless person – a document issued to a person on the day of submission of the application for recognition as a stateless person for the entire period of its consideration. The certificate confirms the existence of the legal grounds for a temporary stay on the territory of Ukraine and is not a document proving the identity of an applicant [7].
The procedure for recognizing a stateless person is the procedure for granting a person who is not recognized as a citizen by any state the official status of a stateless person. This status makes it possible to document a person (provide an identity document) and ensure his/her rights within the legal stateless person status.
Violation of the rules of stay on the territory of Ukraine – those are the offenses defined by Article 203 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses. For example, living without documents that provide with the right to reside in Ukraine; invalid documents or documents that are no longer valid; employment without appropriate permission (if required), etc.
THE PROBLEM OF STATELESSNESS IN UKRAINE: CAUSES AND SCALE
As we wrote above, UNHCR states that almost 40,000 stateless persons are living in Ukraine. At the same time, only about 5,000 of them are registered at the State Migration Service of Ukraine (SMSU). However, this list includes only people who have a residence permit – they are recognized as stateless and are documented by other states. The same is true in Ukraine, but only recently they got a chance to obtain official status.
These are people who have no grounds for obtaining Ukrainian citizenship, and the countries of origin do not recognize them as their citizens (in particular, the countries of citizenship of their parents). They have been living in Ukraine for years, deprived of the opportunity to obtain an identity document and allow them to stay legally in the country.
These people remain invisible to the state and cannot exercise their rights to education and health care, inherit, open a bank account, register a marriage, cross borders freely, and so on.
Among the reasons that led to the loss of citizenship: the collapse of the USSR, loss of documents, migration, loss of parents or limited information about them, ignorance of the order of restoration of documents, other personal circumstances.
More than half of the persons who receive legal assistance from the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) on issues of registration/confirmation of citizenship were born on the territory of Ukraine or the Ukrainian USSR.
The vast majority of all those who applied to the R2P (98.5%) were born in the countries of the former USSR. Thus, statelessness in Ukraine is primarily related to the consequences of the collapse of the USSR and the need to obtain citizenship of the successor states of the USSR.
Usually undocumented persons who apply to the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) for citizenship are also socially vulnerable. Those are single elderly people, Roma, persons released from places of detention, internally displaced persons (IDPs). For the most part, they do not have the appropriate education and legal background and therefore cannot change their status without legal aid.
Representatives of the Roma ethnic minority are also in a difficult situation, whose citizenship is difficult to prove due to the lack of identity documents of their parents and the inability to prove contact with them.
THE INFLUENCE OF AN ARMED CONFLICT
The armed conflict in eastern Ukraine and the formation of illegal armed groups in the uncontrolled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in 2014 caused many problems with documenting the people living in those territories.
In the Non-Government Controlled Areas (NGCA) of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, the territorial subdivisions of the State Migration Service of Ukraine (SMSU), as well as the other governmental bodies, stopped their activities. Therefore, to apply to the SMSU in the Government-Controlled Areas (GCA) for registration of a passport, persons residing in the NGCA must cover long distances and cross the “contact line” through Entry-Exit Checkpoints (EECPs). The actual process of crossing the Checkpoints is difficult and physically exhausting, accompanied by several hours in an open-air with different weather conditions.
Until 2017, when the Unified State Demographic Register became operational, the Migration Service did not have a single electronic database of issued passports. Therefore, there is currently no information on Ukrainian passports issued before 2014 in Donbas. At the same time, the law requires that each person needs to be identified to be issued a passport.
The procedure for processing the documents for persons from Non-Government Controlled Areas is discriminatory in comparison with the rest of the population of the country due to the complex and lengthy identification procedure. This often hinders the issuance of a passport of a citizen of Ukraine, leaving a person in an uncertain legal status. For example, in order to simply paste a photo into a passport at the age of 25 and 45, a person usually has to go through the lengthy procedure of establishing a person in the territorial division of the State Migration Service. The same applies to the exchange in case of loss or damage of a passport issued before 2014 in the now NGCA of the Donbas region.
According to UNHCR, almost 65,000 children born in Non-Government Controlled Areas have not received Ukrainian birth certificates yet. Due to the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, they may have difficulty obtaining a passport when they will turn 14 years old.
Birth certificates issued by the so-called “authorities” at the NGCA from the second half of 2014 are not valid. In 2018, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a law according to which documents confirming the fact of a child’s birth at the Non-Government Controlled Areas are now taken into account when registering the birth in Ukraine.
However, an administrative procedure for registering the birth of a child born in the Temporarily Occupied Territories (TOT) has not yet been introduced. The procedure for registering such a child is quite complex and requires: obtaining a written refusal from the State Registrar of Civil Status Acts (SRCSA) department in the territory controlled by the government of Ukraine; appeal to the court with a statement to establish the fact of the birth of a child; re-application to the SRCSA department with a court decision to obtain a birth certificate of the state standard.
Given the complexity of this procedure, it should be simplified, in particular, by introducing an administrative procedure for registering the birth of children (submission of documents to the department of SRCSA) [8].
LEGISLATIVE BASIS THE STATUS OF STATELESS PERSONS
The Constitution of Ukraine stipulates that human rights and freedoms and their guarantees determine the content and direction of state activity. The state is accountable to its citizens. The promotion and protection of human rights and freedoms is the main duty of the state. Also, current international agreements, approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, are part of the national legislation of Ukraine.
In 2013, Ukraine acceded to the 1954 UN Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons, the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, and adopted the Law on the Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons, which established the international definition of a stateless person. The documents oblige all the signatory sides (states) to ensure certain civil, economic, property, social, and other rights of stateless persons in their territories and also require compliance with certain requirements to reduce their number in their territories.
On June 16, 2020, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted the Law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning Recognition as a Stateless Person”, which entered into force in July of the same year. The law brings the definition of a stateless person into line with the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. Namely: “A stateless person is a person who is not considered a citizen of any state under its law” (instead of “following its legislation”). Such clarification of the definition of a stateless person will prevent the exclusion from this category of persons whose state of origin is required by law to consider them their citizens, but in practice denies citizenship.
In addition, this law defines the procedure for recognizing a person as a stateless person, which will give thousands of stateless living in Ukraine for many years or for their whole lifetime possibility to finally obtain an identity document and become full members of society and exercise their rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine to all citizens without exception.
The procedure for consideration of applications for recognition as stateless persons is determined by the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine № 317 of 24.03.2021 “Some issues of recognition as a stateless person”.
STATELESS DETERMINATION PROCEDURE IN UKRAINE
Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine № 317, which approves the “Procedure for consideration of applications for recognition as a stateless person” (hereinafter – the Procedure), entered into force on April 16, 2021. From now on, people who are undocumented due to the lack of citizenship have the opportunity to apply to territorial divisions and territorial bodies of the State Migration Service of Ukraine with a statement for recognition as a stateless person.
The law protects the vulnerable undocumented persons from requirements that cannot be met:
a person may apply for Stateless Determination Procedure regardless of the existence of legal grounds for residence in Ukraine;
the burden of proving that a person is not a citizen of any of the countries is imposed on the State Migration Service of Ukraine (SMSU) and not on the person (it is almost impossible to collect the necessary evidence for a person who does not have an identity document);
if necessary, the applicant will be provided with an interpreter, his/her documents will be translated;
a person whose application for recognition as a stateless person will be considered by the SMSU unit, or who will appeal the refusal to be recognized will be able to work officially at this time, but with the permission of the employment center;
during the procedure, the applicant has the right to an interview with a Migration Service employee.
At the same time, both the law and the Procedure establish a number of important responsibilities for persons applying for a stateless status:
the applicant is obliged to appear for interviews or to inform in advance about the need to postpone the date of the interview (there may be several);
provide evidence available to him to confirm his/her words;
if during the procedure the applicant has a new document that is essential for the procedure of recognition as a stateless person, he/she is obliged to provide it to the Migration Service within 10 working days from the date of receipt;
after receiving the decision on recognition as a stateless person, the applicant is obliged within ten days to apply to the SMSU for a temporary residence permit; if a person has been recognized as stateless, and after that he/she has acquired the citizenship of a foreign state, such a person is obliged to notify the Migration Service in writing within 30 days from the date of registration of citizenship.
The procedure distributes the powers of the State Migration Service of Ukraine regarding the procedure for recognizing stateless persons between its territorial bodies, territorial divisions, responsible structural units, employees, and the responsible authorized persons (officials) of the Service.
According to the Procedure, a person may apply at the place of residence to the territorial division/territorial body of the SMSU (regional branches, the list of which is available on the official website of the Migration Service). On the day of receiving the application, the Service issues a certificate of application for recognition as a stateless person to the applicant, which is valid for 6 months from the date of application and confirms that the person is temporarily on the territory of Ukraine on legal grounds.
Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) has prepared detailed instructions on how to apply for recognition as a stateless person in Ukraine, where you can learn more about:
the preparation for applying;
what is the Recognition Act and why the Migration Service will interview the applicant’s neighbors, relatives, or acquaintances;
what is an interview;
in which case the applicant may be denied and how to appeal the illegal refusal to accept the application for recognition as a stateless person.
It is impossible to estimate exactly how many people in Ukraine will be able to access the procedure. However, it will be available to at least 10% of the total number of beneficiaries of the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P).
PROBLEMS WITH THE PROCEDURE FOR CONFIRMATION OF UKRAINIAN CITIZENSHIP
Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine “On Citizenship” defines the range of persons who are automatically recognized as the citizens of Ukraine. Confirmation of belonging to the citizenship of Ukraine is regulated by the “Procedure for Proceedings on Applications and Submissions on Citizenship of Ukraine and the Execution of Adopted Decisions”, approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine on March 27, 2001, № 215.
If a person does not have sufficient documents to prove his / her citizenship in Ukraine, he/she must apply to the court to establish the fact (facts) that have legal significance. In particular, to establish the fact of residence on the territory of Ukraine as of 1991, to establish the identity of the applicant and/or belonging to the citizenship of the former USSR as of 1991.
A person must collect information about studying at school, college, university; about official employment for a certain period; living in a particular location; “Form 1” – an application for the issuance of a passport of a citizen of the former USSR; other information that can help establish the fact (facts) that have legal significance.
Collecting documents for an undocumented person is extremely problematic: without an identity document, authorities and institutions do not issue certificates. The success of such a case depends on the persistence of the person and the presence of a lawyer who can request the necessary information. Often the documents have to be translated (for example, a birth certificate issued by a foreign state) into Ukrainian at the expense of the applicant, and more than once.
It is extremely difficult to confirm the citizenship of Ukraine by a person who has lived and obtained a passport of a citizen of Ukraine in the now Non-Government Controlled Areas. Since internal (non-biometric) passports of Ukrainian citizens issued before 2016 are available only in paper variants, their authenticity can be confirmed only by comparing them with the data of the archival card in the archives of the territorial body where they were issued.
However, passports issued in the occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and at the NGCA of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts cannot be verified. In case of loss of this document, a person must establish not only his / her identity, but also the belonging to the citizenship of Ukraine.
Identification of a person and establishment of the citizenship of Ukraine in such cases is carried out in the manner prescribed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine № 289 of June 4, 2014 “On approval of the Procedure for issuing documents confirming citizenship of Ukraine, identity or special status of the citizens in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine” and the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On approval of the sample form, technical description and the Procedure for registration, issuance, exchange, transfer, withdrawal, return to the state, invalidation, and destruction of Ukrainian passport” № 302 of March 25, 2015.
Based on the experience of our lawyers, who provide legal assistance in such complex cases, the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P) has prepared a brochure on the legal protection of stateless persons, asylum seekers, and refugees. It outlines in detail the algorithms for confirming citizenship of Ukraine, identification, registration of the birth of a child, and other required procedures. Unfortunately, some individuals fail to prove their citizenship in Ukraine and become stateless or at the risk of statelessness.
HOW R2P HELP STATELESS PERSONS?
Lawyers and attorneys of the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) have been providing free legal assistance to people living in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts since 2017 in proving their citizenship of Ukraine or a foreign state, passing identification, confirmation of the fact of birth and in the collection of the documents required for recognition as a stateless person.
A coalition of partner organizations that protect the rights of refugees, displaced, migrants, and other vulnerable people has prepared and submitted a joint position to the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the Bill №3475 “On Administrative Procedure”. The coalition’s comments in 2021 were partially taken into account. After the introduction of the administrative procedure in Ukraine it will support the other legal acts which regulate these issues.
The Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) team actively supported the need to establish a procedure for recognition as a stateless person in Ukraine after the ratification of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. The Foundation’s experts were actively involved in the process of drafting amendments to a number of laws of Ukraine on recognition as a stateless person in Ukraine. The Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning Recognition as a Stateless Person” was adopted on June 16, 2020, and entered into force on July 18, 2020. Read more about these changesfollowing this link.
In the process of implementation of the procedure for recognition as a stateless person, Fund facilitates the work of the State Migration Service of Ukraine by disseminating the information about the requirements for the procedure, as well as through providing free legal aid and support to stateless persons. At the same time, the R2P team monitors compliance with the legislation of Ukraine. We protect the rights of stateless persons wherever they are violated or restricted, in particular – in the court.
Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) reviews the legislation and provides recommendations to the authorities on improving the laws and by-laws of Ukraine. The organization was actively involved in the development of the new Human Rights Strategy and the draft Action Plan to the Strategy. The new Strategy in the field of human rights does not bypass the problem of statelessness in Ukraine, including in the context of creating a new procedure for recognition as a stateless person. Overview of the Strategy can be viewed following this link.
REAL-LIFE STORIES
How Svitlana found herself without both
the citizenships of Ukraine and Russia
Svitlana was born in Kharkiv, USSR and lived in the Soviet Russia from 1979 to 1989, and then returned to Svitlodarsk, Ukraine (Donetsk region), where she met her future husband. From the beginning of their life together, the woman lived at the address of registration of her future husband in Svitlodarsk. In 2013, Svitlana lost her USSR passport and applied to the Debaltseve State Migration Service territorial unit in the Donetsk region to obtain citizenship.
However, she did not have confirmation of registration in Ukraine as of 24 August 1991, so the woman was denied Ukrainian citizenship – she had to prove her residence in Ukraine at the time of the declaration of independence.
Unfortunately, due to lack of evidence, the court also refused to establish Svitlana’s residence in Svitlodarsk at the time of Ukraine’s declaration of independence on August 24, 1991, and at the time of the adoption of the Law of Ukraine on Citizenship of Ukraine on November 13, 1991.
Svitlana appealed to the Russian consulate, but she was also told that she was not a Russian citizen. Thus, the woman was left stateless in both of the countries to which she was related, and none of these countries wanted to document her with a passport. She is forced to live in Ukraine without an identity document, without legal personality, freedom of movement, and normal life.
The woman is looking forward to the opportunity to apply for recognition as a stateless person in Ukraine, to obtain official status, get a job and receive social protection.
The story of a man who wanted to prove that he was Ukrainian
In 2019, a man who had no passport for 32 years turned to R2P for help in obtaining a passport of a citizen of Ukraine.
The problem was that he and his parents had lived in Antratsyt in the Luhansk region since 1989, and due to the life circumstances could not obtain a passport of a citizen of Ukraine at the age of 16 (he was sentenced to long-term imprisonment as a minor). After his release in 2014 in the Government-Controlled Area of Ukraine, the man was unable to return home.
Beneficiary applied to various bodies and subdivisions of the State Migration Service of Ukraine to obtain a passport of a citizen of Ukraine, but this ended in refusals, as there was no documentary evidence of his citizenship in Ukraine. The man tried to gather evidence to prove his citizenship on his own, but the city of Antratsyt, Luhansk Oblast, remained in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. It was already obvious that his case required professional legal assistance.
Our lawyer collected the necessary evidence that the beneficiary belonged to the citizenship of Ukraine and filed a lawsuit to establish the fact of residence as a minor in Ukraine as of 24.08.1991 and the decision of the district court of Luhansk region satisfied the requirements.
After the court decision came into force, the beneficiary applied to the district department of the State Migration Service of Ukraine for citizenship of Ukraine. However, he later received a refusal based on the fact that the man had not submitted identity documents with the application.
It is possible to establish a person under such conditions only in court. The lawyer filed a lawsuit again to establish the identity of the man. However, the court refused to open proceedings, stating that the court could not consider cases of identification.
This decision is controversial and is currently being appealed. However, the lawyer’s prognosis is positive – with the court decision it will be possible to identify a person and move to the next stage in obtaining citizenship.
[2] The Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons” contains the following definition: “a person who is not considered a citizen of any state under its law.” It passed into Ukrainian law from the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (also known in Ukraine as the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons).
[3] These primarily relate to the persons who were documented with a passport before 1991 and did not replace the passport after the collapse of the USSR. The lion’s share of stateless persons and at risk of statelessness is the Roma population, which due to gaps in the legislation lived in Ukraine for several generations without being documented and without the possibility to obtain any documents.
[4] According to the Law of Ukraine “On the Unified State Demographic Register and documents confirming the citizenship of Ukraine, identity or special status”
[5] Only there
[6] Conditions for admission to Ukrainian citizenship are defined by Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine “On Citizenship of Ukraine”. For example recognition of laws and the Constitution of Ukraine, knowledge of the state language, continuous residence in Ukraine for a certain period, termination of foreign citizenship, and others.
[7] The certificate is valid for 6 months and can be extended if the term of consideration of the application for recognition as a stateless person was being extended.
Zulfiya was born in 1990 in the city of Horlivka in the Donetsk region. Her parents left her when she was a child. Until the age of 14 y.o. she was raised by her aunt. It was not possible to get a birth certificate and passport, because Zulfiya was born outside of maternity hospital.
After reaching the age of 14, the woman began to live independently, she even had her own family. In Horlivka, Zulfiya gave birth to two children: a boy Ramir and a girl Kamila. However, the woman could not register their birth because she did not have any documents.
After the beginning of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Zulfiya and her children moved to Mariupol, where she later gave birth to two more children, Janusz and Milana. It was also not possible to register their birth as it is required to have a passport to do that.
Due to the lack of documents, the family has to live in an inhumane conditions. In this picture – the swamp from which the family gets the water
In 2019, Zulfiya turned for help to the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P). Our lawyers urgently began to deal with the issue of registration of children and collect the necessary documents that would confirm the fact of their birth in Mariupol.
Subsequently, two children received their birth certificates. However, the other two children, Ramir and Kamila are still living without certificates. Their cases require court proceedings and decisions without which it is simply impossible to register the fact of birth.
To help the woman, an application was filed with the court to establish the fact of her birth in Horlivka. After a year of consideration of the case, the court issued a decision, according to which it was possible to obtain a birth certificate for the woman.
Zulfiya saw it for the first time in 30 years of her life and was infinitely happy about it. Now, having received a birth certificate, the woman will apply to the migration service for a passport. Zulfiya really wants to change her life for the better and to have a worthy place in society!
