cases, representatives of the State authorities said one of the main problems in this area is the fact that “Roma are not willing to come to our office to get documents”.82 IV ACCESS TO PERSONAL DOCUMENTS FOR INTERNALLY DISPLACED ROMA According to the UNHCR, the estimated number of Roma IDPs in Ukraine is 9,000,83 some of whom experience significant challenges accessing personal identification. Most of these challenges are related to forced displacements and their vulnerability is related to their life in crisis-affected areas before their displacement. Obstacles to accessing documents among Roma IDPs A., a Roma man, is from Donetsk, where he lived with his family before the crisis in and around Ukraine started in March 2014. Now he cannot be registered as an IDP because he does not have an internal passport – it was taken away from him by a police officer when he was arrested once, and was never returned. All his efforts to retrieve his confiscated internal passport have failed. In November 2016 A. applied for a new internal passport and was provided with a temporary certificate of identity as a citizen of Ukraine, issued by the SMS. After this document expired, A. is still without his internal passport and citizenship and has no opportunity to apply for stateprovided assistance for IDPs. All the official information about A. (form 1 on the issuance of his first internal passport, information about his imprisonment, etc.) is still located on the territory of the Donetsk Region and cannot be obtained either by A. or by the SMS. Although A. has been directed to initiate a court procedure to establish his identity, he cannot afford legal representation, and the state-provided free legal aid office is asking for his proof of identity before providing him free legal services. Lawyers assisting Roma who have no personal documents claim that the SMS continues to direct such applicants to initiate court procedures to establish their identities. By doing so, the SMS is avoiding exercising their own discretion in such cases and is shifting the burden elsewhere in the system. According to the information collected during the course of this study, most of the problems that IDP Roma experience are related to their lack of personal identification and/or lack of proof of their previous residence in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. That prevents them from enjoying basic economic and social rights and services such as social assistance and from enjoying the right to education, employment opportunities, and/or housing support as well as from accessing state-provided assistance for IDPs. A crucial challenge for Roma IDPs applying for formal IDP status is the lack of evidence of their registration in crisis-affected areas. In most situations, the excessive burden of proof required in these cases prevents Roma from obtaining the necessary documents. 82 83 Information from the meeting with the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), 30 March 2017. Meeting with the UNHCR Office in Kharkiv, 31 March 2017. 33