The Civil Society Development Forum is the fifth annual high level event in the public sector of Ukraine which was organized by “ISAR Ednannya” in the partnership with the Administration of the President of Ukraine and supported by the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine and other international organizations.

The Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine Morten Enberg, in his welcoming speech at the opening of the Forum, suggested that on the “ship of change” together with the core values of the Council of Europe, namely democracy, human rights and the rule of law, Ukraine surely has to take a professionalism of the civil society sector, as professional civil society always creates changes for the better.

The Project “Strengthening the Human Rights Protection of Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine” organized a session on “The Council of Europe and human rights protection of internally displaced persons in Ukraine” offering Forum participants Forum a platform for dialogue with authorities regarding the priorities of the Ministry of temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons of Ukraine.

Also the Project consultants delivered an overview of the situation of fulfilment and protection of human rights of IDPs in the regions where the Project focuses (Kyiv, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions). Another added value was the session on “success stories” of IDPs who have effectively integrated into the host communities. They created their own businesses, implemented social and cultural projects and even created a hospice care center for the elderly persons. Such “success stories” from people, who have not obeyed the life circumstances due to a sense of dignity and inner force, were very inspiring for other participants and motivated them to new positive achievements.

Additionally, the Project supported organization of the photo exhibition “Faces of displacement: at the crossroads of destiny” by Anastasia Vlasova, Ukrainian photojournalist, held in the central hall of the Forum.