Zoya Yehorivna was born in 1954. The woman lived in Luhansk and worked in greenhouses. But it was only until 2014. When the armed conflict broke out, the woman was forced to move to Ukrainian-controlled territory. Unfortunately, Ms. Zoya lost her passport during the evacuation. At that time it was already extremely dangerous to return to the occupied city to try searching for it .
The woman tried to renew passport on her own, but was always refused by the Migration Service because she did not have any documents. Zoya Yehorivna had no relatives who could confirm her identity. In result, Ms. Zoya was not able to prove that she is a citizen of Ukraine, as all information about her place of residence and work remained in the temporarily occupied territories.
Zoya Yehorivna still strives to receive a passport. For her, this is not just a confirmation of identity, but also a document which is necessary to obtain medical services. The woman has problems with health, but due to lack of documents she cannot undergo treatment and register as a person with disability.
Today Ms. Zoya lives in her acquaintances house in Ukrainian village near the demarcation line. As the woman told our colleagues, she still believes that one day she will finally be holding her passport in hands.
In support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Global Campaign to Combat Statelessness #IBelong (#Яісную) The Right to Protection CF tells stories of 5 different people who have faced the problem of statelessness in Ukraine. In fact, there are thousands of such stories across the country. And they all bring together completely different people who, under certain circumstances, live without documents. We want to address this issue and help solve it!