On 29 September, representatives of the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening the Human Rights Protection of Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine” took part in the round table “First steps in establishing peace. Formation of peace processes in the East of Ukraine. International experience” organized with the support of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations, the Ministry for Temporary Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine, and the Special Control Commission of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Privatization.

During the event, the Project presented a handbook “Protecting internally displaced persons under the European convention on human rights and other Council of Europe standards” which summarizes the Council of Europe standards for the protection of rights of internally displaced persons.

The issues of public participation in the formation of peace processes, different concepts of conflict resolution in the East of Ukraine, taking into account international conflict resolution experience, were discussed at the round table.

Among participants there were members of the Parliament of Ukraine, representatives of state authorities, scientific community, international organizations, Ukrainian civil society.

Ms Ganna Khrystova, Senior Project Officer, presenting the handbook, drew an attention of the participants to the fact that this publication is the first one in Europe, where the basic articles of the European Convention, according to each fundamental right, and relevant case-law of the European Court of Human Rights related to conflict issues and the rights of internally displaced persons are compiled.

The Project remains open for cooperation and will further rise awareness on IDPs issues and focus on enhancing capacities of stakeholders to effectively protect the rights of displaced persons in line with European standards.