On 13 February 2017, the Steering Committee Meeting of the Project “Strengthening the Human Rights Protection of IDPs in Ukraine” took place in Kyiv. The Project is implemented under the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2015-2017. It is aimed at advancing of the legislation on IDPs, supporting better implementation of the rights of IDPs, promoting of integration of IDPs and positive relations in host communities.

Among 50 participants who attended the meeting, were members of the Parliament of Ukraine, high representatives of the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice, Coordinating Centre for Legal Aid Providing, the State Migration Service of Ukraine, the Anti-Terrorist Centre at Security Service of Ukraine, the Representative on IDPs of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, the Government Agent before the European Court of Human Rights, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv Regional State Administrations (focus regions of the Project), leading civil society organizations and the Project team.

The meeting was chaired by Ms. Lilja Gretarsdottir, the Project Coordinator, Deputy Head of Division on Cooperation with International Institutions and Civil Society of the Council of Europe. Ms. Gretarsdottir presented main achievements of the Project in 2016 along with the current state of implementation of the Work Plan and introduced the Project Work Plan for 2017.

Mr. Thomas Kattau, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe, presented a plan for effective response to post trauma stress disorder and substance misuse in the context of strengthening the rights of IDPs, which will be implemented in 2017 in the framework of the Project.

National partners positively assessed the activities of the Project and emphasized its achievements and results-oriented nature. In particular, Mr. Yusuf Kurkchi, Deputy Minister of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine highlighted the importance of creation of the Working Group on Improving National Legislation on the Protection of Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons by the Ministry with the technical assistance and expert support of the Project.

Mr. Gia Getsadze, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine, and Mr. Myroslav Lavrinok, First Deputy Head of the Coordinating Centre for Legal Aid Providing, noted the recently approved legislative amendments regarding recognition of IDPs as a category entitled for free secondary legal aid and pointed out the perspectives of further cooperation with the Project in raising awareness on the rights of IDPs and ensuring their legal protection.

Ukrainian MPs Mr. Hryhoriy Nemyria, Ms. Iryna Lutsenko, Ms. Natalia Veselova, Mr. Serhii Taruta, Mr. Mustafa- Masi Nayem emphasized the need to improve national legislation regarding the rights of IDPs in line with the Council of Europe standards.

Ms. Zhanna Lukyanenko, the Representative on IDPs of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, underlined the need to eliminate discrimination against IDPs and to finalize an integrated methodology for monitoring violations of the rights of IDPs.

Regional partners of the Project (Mr. Igor Stokoz, Deputy Head of Donetsk Regional State Administration, Ms. Eleonora Polischuk, Head of the Department of Social Protection of Luhansk Regional State Administration, Mr. Vitaly Lytvin, Adviser to the Head of Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration) recognized that the Project is active at the regional level and there is a need to further support integration activities for IDPs in host communities.

Ms. Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, stressed on the effectiveness of the Project in 2016 and the advisability of its continuation after 2017, reflecting the expectations of the national partners.

Ms. Ganna Khrystova, Senior Project Officer, pointed out the important role of the Project in supporting a dialogue at the national and regional level, involving authorities, civil society organizations and other stakeholders to contribute to their active cooperation in the field of strengthening the rights of IDPs.

At the end of the meeting the partners were encouraged to send their comments on the Project Work Plan for 2017. Since no new suggestions were expressed, the last version of the Work Plan is considered to be approved by the Steering Committee of the Project and will be implemented in 2017.