UKRAINE 2019 UNHCR PARTICIPATRY ASSESSMENT Persons without identity documents cannot obtain official employment. They face difficulties in obtaining even unofficial seasonal jobs because they cannot pass through internal checkpoints. Most undocumented individuals survive with no income at all as they depend on members of the community and humanitarian organizations for assistance with housing and basic needs. Some women have felt compelled to work unofficially. For example, they talked about how they carry goods across the broken bridge at the EECP in Stanytsia Luhanska. This provides a minimal income. “Women work at the bridge at the EECP, taking goods back and forth in a wheelbarrow. The oldest woman is 82 years old, she works as a young one.” Conflict-affected woman at Stanytsia Luhanska Participants from Zolote mentioned that there are no employment opportunities there as coalmines have closed. People used to sell their homemade products, but now they cannot access markets, which are located in NGCA. In Luhansk oblast, some IDPs reported that they had been refused jobs because they have relatives living in NGCA. Access to humanitarian aid Participants complained about the lack of support from humanitarian organizations and rigid vulnerability criteria, which means that many deserving individuals do not qualify under the programmes of NGOs. Participants of pension age shared their perspective that it is unfair that IDPs are excluded from individual humanitarian assistance when their income is above UAH 2,000. Meanwhile, local residents of the settlement receive assistance since their income is lower, even though they do not have to pay rent and have never been displaced. Access to justice There is no court in Avdiivka. After the conflict started, Avdiivka’s court moved to the town of Selydove. Only three out of seven judges work there; others have left the area, which results in delayed hearings and procedures. There is a high demand for court services in the town. There is poor transportation to Selydove, and people cannot afford to travel there. Access to education Participants raised many issues related to education. Isolated settlements do not provide access to secondary education. Rural schools have outdated teaching methods and the quality of education is insufficient for children to qualify for university. Some young people choose to enter tertiary education institutions in NGCA because tuition is free. Students in so-called “displaced universities” raised the problem of insufficient classrooms and dormitories for students and teachers. Children with disabilities require special education, which is available only in big cities such as Kharkiv or Mariupol. DID YOU KNOW Following the conflict in east Ukraine, a number of universities have been “displaced” from NGCA to GCA because of fear of the conflict and because the buildings of the universities might have been seized. In these situations, academics, professors and student bodies fled the conflict zones in an organized manner and re-structured their university elsewhere. Even a Council of Rectors of Displaced Universities was set up. In some cases Ukraine’s Ministry of Education would issue an evacuation order once an initiative group of students, teachers and administrators had been set up at the university that could take responsibility for the move. Universities would move into their own campuses elsewhere where possible or, if not, negotiate with local authorities over allocation of space. Access to early childhood and school education remains another concern for the residents of the settlement of Berdiansk, since most of the local children must attend school either in the nearby settlement of Sopyne or in Mariupol. 18