On 29 November 2017, a round table “Improvement of Human Rights Protection of the Internally Displaced Persons in Donetsk Region. Implementation of new mechanisms”  was held in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region.

The activity has been organized by the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening the Protection of the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine” in cooperation with Donetsk Civil-Military Regional State Administration and The Liaison Officer Program.

During the event, representatives of state agencies and institutions, international organizations, civil society activists working in Donetsk region, were able to discuss urgent issues concerning the protection of social rights of internally displaced persons in the region.

Participants witnesses that, as of today, the payment of pensions to IDPs and the harmonization of the procedures for verification of their permanent residence remains one of the critical issues in the social sphere. The diversity of expertise among the participants of the roundtable was particularly relevant, given the complexity of this problem. Local activists and human rights defenders together with international organizations shared their concerns with representatives of social protection departments and regional administration of the state bank “Oschadbank”.

“We need to create a well-coordinated system of cooperation between the social security bodies, the Pension Fund, and the State Bank “Oschadbank” to improve the implementation of the rights of the IDP,”  noticed Ihor Stokoz, Deputy Head of Donetsk Regional State Administration on Humanitarian Issues.

As a result of constructive discussion the participants managed to develop a joint position on critical aspects of the protection of the rights of internally displaced persons at the local level. Even though the crucial challenges have been identified and the new mechanism to overcome those difficulties are available, they still need to be tested and improved.