On 25 September 2026, Rivne municipality hosted a regional round table focused on integrating internally displaced persons and building stronger co-operation across local communities. The event brought together representatives of local and regional authorities, their associations, regional representatives of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, civil society organisations, and experts.
Opening the session, Mykhailo Karpenko, Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, emphasised the need to move beyond basic relief: “Today, the integration of IDPs goes far beyond addressing their basic needs. It is about ensuring that people can fully exercise their rights, access essential services, find employment, participate in the life of their communities, and feel a genuine sense of belonging.”
Congress member Svitlana Bohatyrchuk-Kryvko (Ukraine, CRE-ECR) and member of the Rivne regional assembly, highlighted the frontline role of municipalities: “Local authorities play a crucial role in ensuring and protecting human rights at the level of territorial communities. They are often the first point of contact for residents accessing essential services such as education, healthcare, housing and employment. Their role is also important in facilitating the submission of claims to the Register of Damage for Ukraine, established under the auspices of the Council of Europe, helping ensure that the damage caused by Russia’s aggression is properly documented and reflected in Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction process.”
During the workshop, participants developed a step-by-step actions for co-operation between local communities and the Ombudsperson’s regional office. Working through real-life cases – ranging from individual IDP requests to systemic human rights concerns and joint monitoring – the groups identified concrete actions to support vulnerable populations.
Their findings form a new shared framework that outlines immediate practical steps, highlights priority areas for co-ordination, and offers practical tools to make local co-operation more systematic and effective.
The round table was organised in cooperation with the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights and the project “Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine's recovery”, implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” for 2023–2026.
