08 April 2016, 14:42
Today, within the framework of an extended offsite meeting, the members of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and Interethnic Relations visited the sites of temporary accommodation of internally displaced persons in the town of Sviatohirsk.
"Before the war in Donbas, Ukraine had not known the phenomenon of internally displaced persons. At first the authorities closed their eyes to the issue, and then started legislative regulation in this field. However, the Government still call you a "problem"," Chairperson of the Committee Hryhorii Nemyria said during the meeting with forced migrants currently living at the Sviati Hory sanatorium.
"Such status quo is unacceptable. You are the citizens of Ukraine, who had been made abandon your homes due to threat to your lives. Our duty is to protect your rights and freedoms," he added.
He informed about the provision of the law on protection of rights and freedoms of the internally displaced persons adopted by the Parliament at the end of 2015 and enacted in early 2016. In compliance with respective amendments, the migrants do not have to prolong their internally displaced persons' cards every six months — as the cards now do not have any expiration date, and the bylaws of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine now must be brought in line with the said law.
Hryhorii Nemyria also announced the plans of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and Interethnic Relations to establish a monitoring group of people's deputies of Ukraine for the protection of rights of internally displaced persons and citizens of Ukraine living in the zone of the anti-terrorist operation.
In turn, a representative of the Right to Protection fund Olha Vynohradova said that people often do not know their legislative rights and noted that internally displaced persons must be better informed about their rights.
The Sviati Hory sanatorium founded on the basis of the property of the Donetsk regional council of trade unions. In 2015, there were 567 internally displaced persons on its territory. Currently the number of internally displaced persons there is 68 people.
In view of the termination of paying pensions and social assistances some families do not have any opportunity to pay for their stay in the sanatorium.
Therefore, there is a threat of dispossession of internally displaced persons from the said sanatorium.
According to the coordinator of the internally displaced persons' community of the sanatorium / teacher from Donetsk Olha Ovsiannykova, currently the sanatorium gives shelter only to those internally displaced persons, who have nowhere to go or their material status does not let them rent an apartment by themselves. Some families have their homes partially damaged, some cannot return home as their homes are located within the five-kilometer zone from the area of permanent combat activities.
Hryhorii Nemyria assured that the rights of the internally displaced persons staying in the sanatorium would be protected and turned it over to mayor of Sviatohirsk Oleksandr Dziuba, who assured that the authorities would not dispossess the people from the sanatorium.
The people's deputies also visited the migrants staying at the Sosnovyi Bor care home of the Zasiadko Mine public joint-stock company. In 2015, the care home gave shelter to 256 internally displaced persons and currently there are 212 people living there.
The meeting participants were Chairperson of the Committee Hryhorii Nemyria, First Deputy Chairperson of the Committee Valerii Patskan, Committee members Vasyl Brenzovych, Iryna Suslova and Refat Chubarov, member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Social Policy, Employment and Pension Provision Nataliya Veselova and member of the Batkivschyna All-Ukrainian Association faction Oleksii Riabchyn, representatives of international and Ukrainian non-government organizations.
As earlier reported, on April 7-8, the town of Kramatorsk (Donetsk region) hosted an extended offsite meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and Interethnic Relations.
Since the start of the anti-terrorist operation about 30,000 residents from population centers located in Donetsk and Luhansk regions have been evacuated to the town of Sviatohirsk.