UKRAINE 2019 UNHCR PARTICIPATRY ASSESSMENT
Access to pensions (rules are different for IDPs from those applicable to other citizens; impossibility
to choose a bank; frequent control measures);
Higher education (one out of three groups with students informed that students were refused
educational grants based on their displacement);
Procedures in receiving passports for traveling abroad (additional documents requested only from
IDPs were mentioned by three groups);
Double discrimination during employment was noted among transgender, Roma IDPs and persons
living with HIV (based on the fact of displacement and belonging to a minority). For example, an
employer refused to hire a person after the individual’s HIV status was disclosed (Kharkiv), and a
large public company disclosed the gender identity of a transgender IDP (Kyiv), and both incidents
resulted in psychological distress;
Persons with Crimean residence registration face discrimination since they are treated as nonresidents of the country based on the provisions of the law “On the free economic zone Crimea”.
These individuals cannot access the full scope of banking services unless they register as IDPs;
Problems with accessing bank loans based on the fact of displacement were mentioned in three
groups.
“I was told “We do not rent housing to foreigners” ...”
IDP student from Crimea studying in Kyiv
Security
In 12 out of 35 focus group discussions, participants expressed security concerns in their places of
displacement, which include:
Tensions between male IDPs and former ATO combatants were strongly emphasized by IDPs in
Mykolaiv oblast. IDPs feared turning to police, because “local people have better established
contacts, including based on personal links”;
Teenaged Roma IDPs and female displaced students face personal safety threats based on the
fact of their displacement (“there is no one to protect you here, you are stranger”).
However, in most groups IDPs mentioned that they personally felt safe and never faced physical
assaults or threats based on the fact of displacement. IDPs in big cities like Kyiv and Lviv mentioned
that in new locations they felt better than during trips to NGCA/Crimea.
“The higher the socioeconomic level of the population, the more tolerant the society is and
accepts individual particularities. Unfortunately, in Ukraine, society as a whole is far from
tolerance”
A transgender person from Donetsk oblast
Freedom of movement
Overall, the situation with the freedom of movement was assessed as good. Specific issues voiced by
IDPs included:
Some IDPs decided not to go to NGCA (even when there is a need) because they fear their data
will appear in “Arkan lists,” (i.e., the database of the State Border Guard Service) which will cause
them to be deprived of their pensions/social payments;
Those who cross the administrative border with Crimea informed that they lacked clear information
on rules of crossing and “were never sure if the rules changed”;
Transgender IDPs said they cannot cross EECPs due to issues with gender indication in their ID
documents.
“This summer, when I was coming back to Ukraine, I was barely resuscitated in GCA. I thought
I was dying due to my blood pressure. That day, some elderly died. It is the “Bridge of Death”,
it is not a road.”
An elderly woman with disability from Luhansk oblast, residing in Zhytomyr
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