Right to Protection is an NGO dedicatedto protecting the rights of asylum seekers, refugees, stateless andundocumented persons, as well as internally displaced and conflict affected persons.
Category: Media about us
07.04.22
“I’m afraid that if I decided to leave I wouldn’t be able to cross checkpoints or borders because I don’t have documents. I’m also very scared they’d separate me from my children because I have no proof that I’m their mother,” – Svitlana Goncharova, a stateless person, one of our beneficiaries, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The woman is in Sumy and due to the lack of any documents she was afraid to leave the shelling, staying with her two children in the basement. Read about how she and her children are going through this difficult time and about life without citizenship in this Thomson Reuters Foundation article.
The Right to Protection Charitable Foundation deals with the problems of stateless people and at risk of statelessness in Ukraine. According to Sofia Kordonets, the foundation’s project manager, although neighbouring countries had their borders opened, only a few cases are known of stateless people being able to leave Ukraine (some of whom had expired Soviet passports). Stateless persons face great obstacles in finding accommodation and assistance if they decide to move around the country, it is difficult for them to go abroad and there is a high probability that they may never be able to return.
«Перше питання, як “The first question they ask us is often not “how can I leave?” but “how can I return?” – Sofia notes.
War puts the undocumented person in very difficult circumstances. Even in peacetime, a person without an identity document is restricted in their freedom of movement, and the fear of being detained is common for such people. Undocumented stateless persons (OBG) in Ukraine live with this fear for decades and sometimes their entire lives.
Right to Protection beneficiaries without identity documents are hesitant to move from dangerous war-torn regions in particular because of this fear. Forced into permanent life-long restrictions, they now find themselves trapped in dangerous localities and without the possibility of receiving assistance. Their only hope is the volunteers who are now working at the edge of possibility!
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are approximately 35,000 people with undetermined citizenship and statelessness in Ukraine. As there is no official and accurate data, so there may be more of these people. Some people do not have any documents, while at the same time they try to live, fighting for the right to a full life and even associating themselves with our state.
The Right to Protection does everything possible to help these people to continue their attempts to be documented and provides the necessary information and assistance.
Photo: Emma Batha, Thomson Reuters Foundation.
02.06.21
Give the person a fishing rod instead of fish! That’s the purpose of the new project of the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) which will be implemented in the Azov region. It is aimed at developing practical skills and knowledge of members of vulnerable groups, which in the long run will help improve their economic situation. After all, it is assumed that the project participants will be then able to find a job or start their own business in the future.
Why the Azov region?
The economy of the Azov region has suffered greatly as a result of an armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. On the one hand, there are signs of loss of regional and international markets, destroyed infrastructure, and changes in the functioning of the transport sector. On the other hand, a large number of internally displaced persons have settled here – people who have been forced to leave their homes and start their life from the beginning.
Therefore, for these territories, the issue of the social and economic integration of these citizens is extremely acute. That is why the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P) together with its partner GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH) launched a project aimed at improving the lives of people who found themselves in difficult life circumstances and require assistance. These are not only IDPs but also people over the age of 50, single parents, parents with many children, people with disabilities, and women.
As David Fuechtjohann, Director of the Project “Fostering Economic Participation of Vulnerable Groups Including IDPs in the Sea of Azov Region” at GIZ noted, the Ukrainian economy is facing an inevitable profound transformation – especially when it comes to the eastern part of the country. This poses many challenges for the region and its people.
“The Ukrainian economy, especially in the eastern part of the country, is facing a profound transformation that imposes many challenges for the region and its population. The conflict and the pandemic have further tightened the economic situation of the local population, especially of the vulnerable groups. We are glad to have now this cooperation between GIZ and R2P in place as I am convinced that this project and the experience of R2P in the region will equip members of vulnerable groups with the necessary business and entrepreneurial skills that are in demand nowadays in a modern market economy and that will improve their perspectives on the labor market.”
– said Mr. Fuechtjohann
What will the project participants get?
During the project implementation, R2P will conduct comprehensive training in digital and financial literacy, provide knowledge on the basics of business and self-employment. In addition, participants will be able to receive individual advice from a lawyer on labor and anti-discrimination legislation, finance, private enterprise, and taxation, and also the career counselor. There will be individual consultations and webinars on writing the CV, job search, internships, etc. Participants will also be able to get legal information on employment issues in the chatbot “Legal Advisor for IDPs” on any of the mentioned platforms: Viber, Facebook, and Telegram.
According to Nadiya Kovalchuk, Deputy President of the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P), the new project implemented in partnership with GIZ will be a logical continuation of the organization’s activities in the region.
“Our team is constantly working hard to resolve the problems that have arisen in eastern Ukraine in connection with the conflict. This particular project aims to increase the economic inclusion of vulnerable people in the Azov region. Participants from Tokmak, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Mangush, Primorsk, and Mariupol will be invited to participate in the program. An open set of participants will be announced in the second decade of June. We are convinced that such programs, in the long run, can strengthen the ability of people with vulnerabilities to become involved in the local economy, ”
This is a strategic document, the main purpose of which is to ensure and support the human rights and freedoms of the citizens of Ukraine. This goal should be achieved, in particular, by solving the main systemic problems through supporting and protecting human rights and freedoms in the face of new challenges. The document was approved to replace the previous Strategy, which lost its relevance together with the completion of the Action Plan at the end of last year. The goals set by the Strategy should be achieved by implementing specific steps approved by the Action Plan, which will be adopted every three years.
The human rights strategy was prepared in coordination with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine with the involvement of the civil society sector in 2020. The participation of national and international organizations, activists, experts and scholars in the process of developing the Strategy is extremely important due to the possibility of a constructive dialogue between the Government on the one hand and the public on the other.
The new Human Rights Strategy does not bypass the problem of statelessness in Ukraine. In particular, in the context of creating a new procedure for recognition as a stateless person of Ukraine, it sets tasks and raises appropriate expectations:
to ensure the possibility of realization of the right to work, healthcare and social protection to those who have applied for the recognition as stateless persons;
to ensure access to the mechanism of recognition as a stateless person, regardless of the fact of a person’s stay in Ukraine on the legal grounds.
In order for the population of the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) to retain the citizenship of Ukraine:
to ensure the issuance of identity documents and proof of citizenship of persons residing in the TOT, in the manner prescribed by law at the place of application;
to develop and implement a single out-of-court mechanism for confirmation and state registration of civil status acts of citizens residing in the TOT.
Thus, a common understanding of the ways to solve the problem of statelessness in Ukraine and avoid the threat of statelessness for TOT residents is present in the Strategy. This is definitely a positive result of the work of the civil sector. The next step is to approve the Action Plan, which will determine the exact actions of the authorities and other actors, the use of which will lead or bring us closer to achieving these goals.
At the same time, the central executive bodies refuse to plan in the measures to identify undocumented persons, even in certain regions of the country. These measures are prescribed into the draft from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine «On approval of the Action Plan for the implementation of the National Strategy for Human Rights for 2021-2023». The implementation of these measures was planned by the previous Action Plan for 2016 (!), But in the absence of a Stateless Determination Procedure (SDP) in Ukraine as such and were considered inappropriate at the moment.
The position of the authorities seems to be so much inconsistent that the State Migration Service of Ukraine plans to carry out explanatory work on the requirements of the legislation regarding the new Stateless Determination Procedure which will enter into the force with the Cabinet of Ministers resolution «On some issues regarding the recognition as a stateless person».
«Active actions on the part of the Government concerning documenting the stateless persons, as well as encouraging the documentation of other persons that do not have identity documents, properly informing the public about current procedures and administrative services regarding this issue should be carried out independently of plans and strategies, especially when implementing the Stateless Determination Procedure. It is impossible for Ukraine to fulfill obligations under the 1954 Convention concerning the Status of Stateless Persons if stateless persons are itself not identified within a country.»
– said Ksenia Karahiaur, Legal Analyst at Right to Protection (R2P).
(Kyiv) – Pensioners with limited mobility due to illness, disability, or advancing age who live in nongovernment-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine face overwhelming difficulty accessing their pensions or do not get them at all, Human Rights Watch said today.
In November 2014, the Ukrainian government stopped funding government services in areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed armed groups. Since then, it has required people who live in these areas to register as displaced persons and cross the contact line to government-controlled areas to receive their pensions. According to Ukraine’s ombudswoman, over 450,000 of the 1.2 million pensioners living in these areas do not receive their pensions. In December 2019, the United Nations also noted the impact of these discriminatory rules on hundreds of thousands of pensioners.
“Ukraine’s pension policies impose hardships on many older people in areas not controlled by the government,” said Yulia Gorbunova, senior Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “These policies are discriminatory, violate property rights, and simply cut off those who are physically unable to cross the line of contact from their pensions altogether.”
Parliament should approve a pending draft law that, among other reforms, would delink pension eligibility from displaced person status and make it easier to pay pension arrears to those who have been denied pension payments or have been unable to access them.
The draft law, if adopted, would end the discrimination that pensioners living in nongovernment-controlled areas have faced since 2014 but would not address other difficulties that pensioners who cannot travel due to limited mobility face in accessing their pensions. For example, under current rules, pensioners from these areas have to appear in person every three months for an identity verification procedure at the only state bank, where pensions are paid. Unlike people living elsewhere in Ukraine, people living in areas not controlled by the government and registered as internally displaced may not appoint an authorized representative to collect their pensions.
To address these issues, the government should introduce further reforms, including a remote identity verification procedure and access to online notary services, Human Rights Watch said.
The Ukrainian government also requires residents of separatist-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk regions who wish to remain eligible for pensions to have a residential address in government-controlled areas and to travel to those areas at least once every 60 days. These requirements are discriminatory and create unnecessary hardship by forcing older people to regularly take an arduous and, at times dangerous, journey, Human Rights Watch said.
Between October and December 2019, Human Rights Watch interviewed several pensioners who have been unable to travel to government-controlled areas for several years due to limited mobility and have lost access to their pensions. Two of them have not received their pensions since 2014 and one whose pension is being paid out by the government cannot get to the bank in person to access it. Human Rights Watch also interviewed their family members as well as lawyers and representatives of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that are advocating to restore pension rights and have interviewed many other pensioners in nongovernment-controlled areas who cannot travel at all.
While there is no data on how many pensioners unable to travel currently remain in areas not controlled by the government, Ukraine’s Pension Fund reportedly has accumulated a debt of 86 billion hryvnas (approximately US$3.5 billion) which is owed to pensioners who live in non-government controlled areas. It is not known how much is owed to pensioners who can’t travel from those areas for mobility reasons, or how much is owed to others who may have fallen out of compliance with the discriminatory eligibility requirements or whose pensions were suspended for other reasons.
The UN, as well as numerous NGOs including Human Rights Watch, have repeatedly urged the Ukrainian government to repeal these requirements. In a December 2019 report, the UN said that delinking “the payment of pensions from [internally displaced persons] registration [would] … contribute to social inclusiveness among the population affected by the conflict.”
“When it comes to pensions, older people in areas not controlled by the government who have limited mobility should be treated the same as other Ukrainian citizens,” Gorbunova said. “It is heartbreaking to imagine that some of them live in acute poverty but are not getting the pensions to which they are legally entitled.”
For additional information about the government requirements and accounts by people affected, please see below.
Impact on Especially Vulnerable Pensioners
Ukraine’s pension requirements discriminate against all pension-eligible Ukrainians who live in areas not controlled by the government, but they have an especially pernicious impact on those who cannot travel because of limited mobility due to illness, disability, or advancing age.
These include pensioners who have not been able to travel out of these areas since the armed conflict began in 2014 and have never established pension eligibility. They also include those who at some point traveled and registered as internally displaced but whose limited mobility prevented them from making subsequent trips required to maintain their pension eligibility. In some cases, their pensions have been suspended and in others, people can’t access pension payments from a bank in government-controlled Ukraine.
Pensioners living in areas not controlled by the government have to be registered as displaced to engage with Ukraine’s Pension Fund directly. If a pension is suspended for failure to comply with registration or verification requirements, filing a lawsuit is often the only way to reinstate it.
Representatives of Right to Protection, a Ukrainian group that has been a leader in strategic litigation and advocacy for the rights of pensioners in the conflict, told Human Rights Watch that in their experience, people who file such lawsuits have a strong chance of winning in domestic courts. Winning in court, however, does not guarantee the reinstatement of the pension or the payment of arrears as there is no clearly established mechanism for carrying out the judgments.
Cabinet of Ministers decrees № 335 and № 788 stipulate that all pensions and pension arrears will be paid through a “special procedure, established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.” However, the government has not established this procedure.
In a November interview in Kyiv, Right to Protection’s legal assistance coordinator, Iuliia Tralo, told Human Rights Watch that Ukraine’s Pension Fund has relied on the lack of procedure as a loophole to avoid paying arrears, even when courts have ordered such payments. Tralo said that fewer than 10 percent of such judgments were implemented in 2019.
Pensioners Unable to Travel to Obtain Displaced Person Status
Lyubov Toporkova, 85, and her sister, Raisa Ostapova, 81, live in Vuhlehirsk, a town in eastern Ukraine that is not currently controlled by the government. Both lost their pensions because they could not obtain displaced person status.
Ostapova has been living in Vuhlehirsk since 1957. In a phone interview with Human Rights Watch in December, she said that for the past 15 years, she has been the sole caregiver for Toporkova, who cannot move from the waist down and is confined to bed. Toporkova’s immobility made it impossible for the sisters to evacuate from Vuhlehirsk in 2014 or even go to an underground bomb shelter when the city came under heavy shelling.
“There was shooting and explosions all around us, but we could not leave the house,” Ostapova said. “And there we were, [Lyubov] lying down and me sitting at the foot of her bed, both of us shaking with fear.”
The sisters’ lawyer, Olena Prihodko, said that they both stopped getting pension payments from the Ukrainian government in August 2014, a few months after the conflict began. Prihodko also said that the sisters have been living in poverty and have no other relatives to help them.
Both sisters sued to have their pensions reinstated.
In March 2018, the Donetsk District Administrative Court, now relocated to a government-controlled city, ruled against reinstating Toporkova’s pension, Prihodko said. The court held that she should have left Vuhlehirsk and moved to government-controlled area to continue receiving her pension.
“The court decided that since she didn’t relocate when the war began, that was reason enough not to protect her rights,” said Prihodko. “A bizarre argument, considering that for years she has been physically unable to get up, let alone undergo such complicated travel.”
Ostapova won her case against Ukraine’s Pension Fund in August 2018, but the Pension Fund has not paid her the money to which she is entitled. In October 2019, Ostpapova’s lawyers filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
Pensioners Who Could Not Maintain Displaced Person Status and Comply with Bank Verification Procedures
Agafia Nikolaevna Pidobid is a 92-year-old resident of Donetsk, a major city in eastern Ukraine that is currently not under government control. In a Skype interview on October 11, 2019, Pidobid said that she crossed the line of contact early in 2016 and registered as internally displaced, but has not been able to travel again since, due to her rapidly deteriorating health. Pidobid suffers from chronic heart disease and is nearly blind. Her daughter, Tatiana Maltseva, said that in the last year, for health reasons, Pidobid has not been able to leave her house.
In March 2016, Pidobid’s pension was discontinued because she was not permanently living in Mariupol, in government-controlled territory, where she was registered. Lawyers from the Right to Protection took her case to court, which recognized that her rights have been violated and ordered the Pension Fund to reinstate Pidobid’s pension payments from February 2019 and pay her the three years of pension arrears that had accumulated since 2016.
Pidobid’s pension payments resumed, but her bank card has been blocked because she was unable to travel to a government-controlled area to undergo the physical identification procedure at the bank, which requires her personal presence every three months.
“The fact that she [Pidobid] is still getting paid although she has not been crossing is striking” said Yanina Rebenkova, Maltseva’s lawyer. “In practice, as soon as the Pension Fund finds out that a pensioner has not been crossing, they issue a decision to suspend payment, which is then communicated to the bank. Her pension has not been suspended but that makes no difference, because she cannot access the payments.”
Oleg Tarasenko, senior strategic litigation lawyer with Right to Protection, said “People like Agafia Nikolaevna may be receiving pensions but there is no mechanism in place for them to withdraw it without their presence. When she dies, her daughter can inherit the money – that is pretty much the only way for her family to access [it].”
Recent Government Actions and Rhetoric
The new draft law № 2083-d, submitted to Parliament on November 26 and scheduled for parliamentary consideration in January 2020, introduces a number of key provisions that could help improve the situation for pensioners living in nongovernment-controlled areas.
Specifically, the draft law: 1) permits the payment of pensions to be delinked from displaced person status; 2) provides that accumulated pension arrears should be paid in their entirety – current regulations limit that term to three years; 3) offers a concrete procedure for paying pension arrears; 4) simplifies verification procedures to establish pension eligibility; and 5) requires obligatory identity checks every six months, instead of every three months.
Ukrainian authorities have recently taken several important, practical steps to improve the situation for pensioners living in nongovernment-controlled territories. For example, in March, the authorities annulled expiration dates for electronic passes required to travel across the contact line. In August, an electric cart was provided to drive older people and people with disabilities across the Stanytsia Luhanska checkpoint. In November, the authorities completed much-needed repairs to the destroyed bridge at this crossing point, which will reduce some of the hazards of crossing.
Several landmark court decisions also safeguarded pensioners’ rights. For example, in May 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that requiring pensioners to register as displaced puts an improper burden on access to pensions. In December 2018, it found residency verifications for pensioners to be unlawful. In response, the Ministry of Social Policy stated that it would continue to verify displaced persons’ residences prior to granting them pensions or social benefits but that it would stop inspection visits to displaced persons’ homes.
However, resistance to easing the burden for older Ukrainians in separatist-controlled areas is reflected in the dismissive manner in which several former Ukrainian government officials have previously spoken about them, at times implying that they were disloyal to Ukraine. State officials also argued that pensioners living in these areas are also receiving social support payments from the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic.” That rhetoric was elevated in the spring of 2019 when the Russian government introduced a fast-track procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for people living in areas controlled by Russia-backed armed groups.
Whether pensioners residing in those areas receive some sort of financial support from nongovernment-controlled areas has no bearing on the Ukrainian government’s obligations to pay these citizens’ pensions, which are a form of property rights. Such support would not annul their rights vested in the state pension.
Applicable Legal Standards
The right of Ukrainian citizens to social protection, including pensions, is guaranteed by Article 46 of the constitution of Ukraine, as well as the Law on State Pension Provision and the Law on Collection of Obligatory State Pension Insurance.
Additionally, Ukraine is a party to the European Convention on Human Rights and pension rights are protected property rights under Article 1 of Protocol 1 of the convention. Accordingly, any interference with pension rights must have a proper legal basis, pursue a legitimate aim, and must not be discriminatory or impose an excessive and disproportionate burden on individuals.
As the government does not exercise control over parts of eastern Ukraine, it is within its rights to amend the process by which pensioners in areas it does not control can collect their pensions. However, the process the government has introduced treats pensioners in these areas differently than other pensioners and imposes an excessive burden that creates hardship for them and therefore falls outside the scope of permitted interferences. It is also unjustified in that it violates other rights, such as family and home life, protected under Article 8 of the European Convention.
Recommendations
Ukrainian authorities should, as a matter of urgency, resume pension payments to all pensioners, irrespective of their place of residence, and eliminate requirements for pensioners living in areas not controlled by the government to regularly travel into government-controlled areas and maintain residential addresses there. The authorities should adopt the draft law № 2083-d and carry out its main provisions, including delinking displaced person status from pension eligibility, canceling the current three-year limit for payment of pension arrears, and introduce a clear mechanism for paying the arrears.
The authorities should also take additional steps to address the current gap in regulations governing pension provision that do not accommodate pensioners with limited mobility who live in areas not controlled by the government.
These could include:
Amending current legislation to provide pensioners living in these areas with the option, at their request or at the request of relatives or other close persons, to use online notary services
Amending current legislation to allow pensioners in these areas to engage with the Pension Fund of Ukraine on pension-related issues, irrespective of their place of residence, through a representative authorized by power of attorney, notarized remotely
Introducing a remote identity verification procedure so that pensioners in these areas can freely access their pensions through banks in government-controlled territory either personally or via their representatives.
· Première Urgence Internationale (PUI) reported about the increase in the number of people seeking medical assistance at Marinka EECP. The number of people fainting at Stanytsia Luhanska is still alarmingly high. On July 1-3 this number was in peak, surpassing 80 persons per day.
· A free bus route for older people and people with disabilities at Stanytsia Luhanska was launched in the GCA by Luhansk Oblast administration on July 15. The share of complaints about long distance to walk at this EECP decreased by 43% (from 73% in June to 30% in July), following the launch.
· On July 21 at around 12:00 an unexploded mine was found by the SES at Maiorske EECP, causing a suspension of operation on July 21 (partially) and 22.
· Minor changes in demographics were observed in comparison to June. The share of younger respondents increased by 8% due to the vacation season (vacation was one of the three most common reasons for crossings among respondents aged 18-34 in July).
· The share of respondents who were concerned about long waiting times in July was 10% higher than in June. The sharpest increase was at Stanytsia Luhanska (9% to 56%).
The report is based on the results of a survey conducted by R2P at the five EECPs to enter the NGCA and administered on a regular basis since June 2017. The survey is a part of the monitoring of violations of rights of conflict-affected populations within the framework of the project ‘Advocacy, Protection and Legal Assistance to IDPs’ implemented by R2P, with the support of UNHCR. The purpose of the survey is to explore reasons and concerns of those traveling from the NGCA to the GCA, as well as conditions and risks associated with crossing the line of contact through EECPs. The information collected in the survey helps identify protection needs, gaps and trends, and provides an evidentiary basis for advocacy efforts.
Ocurrió hace unos días en el Foro Mundial de Davos, donde una de las atracciones fue un robot llamado Sofía. Según cuenta la diputada de Kiev Alona Shkrum, alguien invitó al androide al ‘stand’ ucraniano y ahí le preguntaron qué se podía hacer para acabar con la corrupción en esta ex república soviética. El software del robot colapsó y se quedó ‘colgado’. El Gobierno ucraniano, atenazado por una guerra congelada en el este, un nacionalismo que ya censura libros y una deuda difícil de domar, sigue intubado al respaldo occidental, tratando de no dar ningún chispazo como el del androide Sofía. El presidente Petro Poroshenko prometió al asumir el cargo un país limpio de corrupción y en paz.
El próximo mes de febrero se cumplen tres años de unos acuerdos de Minsk que sirvieron para frenar la sangría de la guerra pero que no han desembocado en una negociación. Kiev sigue sin controlar Donetsk y Lugansk, que tampoco han recibido el estatus especial prometido.
La guerra se ha convertido en una vía de escape para el Gobierno, que culpa a Rusia de sus males y prepara mano dura en el este. Mientras, la transparencia prometida vive horas bajas con unas autoridades acusadas de boicotear las instituciones creadas para combatir la corrupción. “Poroshenko cree que Washington y Bruselas le apoyarán haga lo que haga mientras dure la guerra contra las fuerzas respaldadas por Rusia en el este”, se lamentaba hace unos días el escritor y periodista Maxim Eristavi.
Rusia, “Estado agresor”
Mientras, el Parlamento ultima la ley para la reintegración de las regiones orientales de Donetsk y Lugansk a Ucrania, en la que declara la zona de conflicto como “territorios temporalmente ocupados” por grupos armados controlados por Rusia. Tras numerosas enmiendas, el documento, declara a Rusia como “Estado agresor”, y pone en manos del Ministerio de Defensa y del Ministerio del Interior la redacción de una hoja de ruta para recuperar esos territorios hasta lograr “la ausencia completa de militares rusos”. Establece la creación de un mando conjunto para “contrarrestar la agresión rusa”, todo ello sin mencionar los acuerdos de paz firmados en Minsk y equiparando implícitamente Crimea y Donbás. “Ucrania tiene que actualizar el marco legal que regula estos territorios temporalmente ocupados, que están administrados por Rusia y son fruto de una agresión rusa”, explica a EL MUNDO, Sergiy Kyslytsya, viceministro de Asuntos Exteriores de Ucrania.
[vc_single_image alignment=”center” image=”2563″]
Las ONG están preocupadas. Ahora el mando del Ejército en la zona de conflicto tendrá derecho a restringir la entrada de personas o vehículos a los territorios ocupados, verificar la documentación de civiles y funcionarios, así como al uso de la fuerza contra “aquellos que violan la ley o intentan entrar ilegalmente en la zona de combate”. Darina Tolkach es una de las coordinadoras de Derecho a Protección, una entidad que da asistencia legal a las personas desplazadas dentro de su propio país: “Desde el punto de vista práctico supone más poder para las fuerzas del orden y una limitación de derechos y de la asistencia humanitaria, algo que puede provocar una segunda oleada de refugiados, gente que prefiera moverse más allá de donde está hacia otras zonas controladas por el Gobierno”. Aunque no ve contradicción directa con los acuerdos de Minsk, cree que la nueva ley “no apunta a la integración” de territorios.
El peor año en bajas civiles
No se vislumbran salidas, pero muchos ucranianos están hartos de leer en los medios extranjeros que en su país hay una guerra ‘congelada’: “No es así, van ya 10.303 muertos y 24.778 heridos según datos de la OSCE de 2017, un año que ha sido peor en cuanto a muertes de civiles que 2016”, recuerda Katerina Zarembo, profesora de Ciencia Política de la Universidad de Kiev. Sus compatriotas desayunan casi cada día con noticias de nuevas bajas del frente. “11 soldados ucranianos han muerto y 50 han resultado heridos desde el 23 de diciembre de 2017, cuando iba a empezar el alto el fuego de Navidad”, dice el viceministro Kyslytsya.
Las autoridades ucranianas y los separatistas prorrusos iniciaron en diciembre el mayor intercambio de prisioneros de guerra desde que hace cuatro años estalló el conflicto. Ese mismo mes el departamento de EEUU aprobó que se otorguen licencias a empresas estadounidenses para vender armas letales a Ucrania. Moscú -que no reconoce su injerencia en Donbás pero que sigue poniendo y quitando líderes separatistas en las zonas rebeldes- ha expresado su preocupación porque la medida puede reavivar el conflicto. “La Historia demuestra que Moscú sólo entiende el uso de la fuerza”, responde el viceministro Kyslytsya, que cree que “la ayuda occidental envía además un mensaje al Kremlin de que cualquier intento de agresión hacia Ucrania tendrá un alto coste para Rusia”.
Cerca del frente, la vida sigue entre una mezcla de “depresión” y “tranquilidad”. “Todos parecen haber olvidado que a 70 kilómetros hay otra vida”, explica desde Kramatorsk Olga, que prefiere no revelar su identidad: “Siguen los cortes de agua y de luz, los ‘checkpoints’”. Incluso la ‘normalidad’ sigue siendo muy extraña en esta franja de Donbas, donde esperan que el nuevo régimen excepcional no suponga una traba a su participación en unas futuras elecciones, en las que Poroshenko y los que apoyan al Gobierno saben que no recibirán muchos votos de esa ‘zona gris’.
Share
31.01.18
Für den Osten der Ukraine gilt zwar eine Waffenruhe, doch noch immer gibt es fast täglich Verletzte und Tote. Das Parlament in Kiew hat nun ein Gesetz verabschiedet, das für das Gebiet schwerwiegende Folgen haben dürfte. Denn es verhängt faktisch das Kriegsrecht über die Oblaste Donzek und Lugansk.
Von Sabine Adler
Parlamentspräsident Andrej Paruby bittet um den Knopfdruck der Abgeordneten. Drei Tage hat die Werchowna Rada fast 700 Änderungen in dem Gesetz über die Re-Integration des Donbass teilweise chaotisch debattiert, Ende vergangener Woche wurde es angenommen. Zur Freude von Präsident Petro Poroschenko, der es eingebracht hatte.
“Heute hat das ukrainische Parlament mit 280 Stimmen das Gesetz über die Re-Integration des Donbass verabschiedet.”
Bei 36 Gegenstimmen und zwei Enthaltungen. Vizeparlamentspräsidentin Oksana Syroid von der Partei Selbsthilfe, war seit langem für das Donbass-Gesetz.
“Ich habe nur eine Frage: Kann ich als Abgeordnete dorthin oder nicht? Nein! Haben wir die Gebiete deswegen abgetrennt? Nein. Aber wir müssen die Realität anerkennen, dass Russland diese Gebiete okkupiert hat – die Krim wie den Donbass.”
Ende der Kompensationszahlungen
Im sogenannten Oppositionsblock, der aus der Partei des Ex-Präsidenten Viktor Janukowitsch hervorging, hält man von dem Gesetz gar nichts, es sei ungeeignet, das okkupierte Gebiet wieder zurückzuholen. Noch viel kritischer sehen es Menschenrechtsaktivisten wie Darina Tolkatsch. Vergeblich hatten die Juristen ihrer und anderer NGO vor diesem Gesetz gewarnt. Ihre Organisation “Recht auf Schutz” hilft seit Jahren Kriegsflüchtlingen, Entschädigungsansprüche durchzusetzen. Sie befürchtet, dass jetzt niemand mehr Kompensationszahlungen bekommt.
“Im Gesetz wird allein Russland für die Kriegsschäden verantwortlich gemacht. Für die Bürger heißt das, dass sie jetzt in einem ukrainischen Gericht Klage gegen die Russische Föderation einreichen müssen. Wie das funktionieren soll, erklärt niemand.”
Als Agent des Kremls abgestempelt
In der Präambel des Gesetzes wird Russland als Aggressor bezeichnet, was für die meisten Abgeordneten eine Genugtuung ist, sofern sie für das Gesetz über die Re-Integration des Donbass gestimmt haben. Wer es aber kritisiert, wird schnell als Agent des Kremls abgestempelt. Pawel Lissjanksi von der Ostukrainischen Menschenrechtsorganisation nimmt trotzdem kein Blatt vor den Mund.
“Das Gesetz ist reiner Populismus. Es ist ein Zeichen, dass der Präsidentschaftswahlkampf angefangen hat. Im kommenden Jahr ist die Wahl. Man will Punkte sammeln. Nur die Menschen in den besetzten Gebieten werden weiter keine Renten bekommen, auch nicht die ausstehenden Löhne, die ihnen die ukrainische Regierung noch aus dem Jahr 2014 zahlen müssteEs geht nicht um Re-Integration, sondern um die Ausweitung der Vollmachten der Sicherheitskräfte.”
Drei unterschiedliche Zonen in der Ukraine
Künftig gibt es drei unterschiedliche Zonen in der Ukraine: eine besetzte mit den selbstausgerufenen Volksrepubliken. Eine sichere – die freie Ukraine. Und eine Pufferzone, für die man spezielle Ausweise vom neuen Oberkommando der Streitkräfte braucht. Zu dieser Pufferzone werden die Oblaste Donezk und Lugansk werden, wo die Bevölkerung zwar nahe am okkupierten Gebiet, aber doch fast so normal wie im Rest der Ukraine lebte. Jetzt wird dort quasi Kriegsrecht herrschen, sagt die Juristin Darina Tolkatsch.
“Eine Verhängung des Kriegszustandes enthält normalerweise auch Pflichten gegenüber der Zivilbevölkerung. Hier nicht, denn es fehlt der Anspruch auf Evakuierung. Künftig dürfen die Sicherheitsorgane Zivilisten in dieser Pufferzone, im gesamten Donezker und Lugansker Gebiet, Personen mit Waffengewalt festnehmen, Durchsuchungen durchführen und Eigentum beschlagnahmen, Häuser, Wohnungen und Autos zum Beispiel. Außerdem dürfen im ganzen Land künftig Telefonate abgehört und e-mails mitgelesen werden.”
Markt in Stanzija Luganskaja
Stanzija Luganskaja ist ein winziger Ort wenige Kilometer von der Frontlinie entfernt. Hier befindet sich einer der nur fünf Übergänge an der viele hunderte Kilometer langen Grenze zwischen okkupiertem und nicht besetztem Gebiet. Die Lebensmittel auf dem Markt hier sind weit günstiger als in den Volksrepubliken, jeder schleppt, was er kann, über die Grenze. Ein Gesetz, das die Menschen aus den Separatistenrepubliken wirklich zurück in die Ukraine holen wollte, würde zuallererst hier, an den zu Dauerprovisorien verkommenen Übergängen, bessere Bedingungen schaffen, die die eigenen Bürger willkommen heißen.
Stattdessen lässt man die vor allem alten Menschen, die sich ihre Rente in der Ukraine abholen müssen, bei Wind und Wetter unter freiem Himmel warten. Nirgendwo gibt es ein Dach über dem Kopf, nirgends einen Platz, im Warmen einen Tee zu trinken. Der einzige Luxus sind ein zehn Meter langes Dach aus Folien der UN-Flüchtlingsorganisation und Zelte vom Roten Kreuz.
“Hier haben wir Leute, die schlecht zu Fuß sind, 70-80jährige, die einen Rollstuhl brauchen oder sich aufwärmen müssen. Wollen Sie einen Tee?”
Rückgang der Bürgerrechte
Irina, die ihren Nachnamen nicht nennen möchte wegen ihres Jobs in der neuen Pufferzone, befürchtet, dass es mit den Bürgerrechten nach diesem Gesetz weiter bergab gehen wird.
“Schon lange dürfen wir keine Meetings oder Demonstrationen abhalten oder auf eine andere Art unseren Protest zum Ausdruck bringen. Das wird sofort als Separatismus ausgelegt. Den Menschen ist schon jetzt das Recht auf freie Meinungsäußerung genommen, das neue Gesetz erhöht den Druck noch weiter.”
Aufruf zum internationalen Gebet (Deutschlandradio / Sabine Adler)
Darina Tolkatsch prophezeit eine neue Fluchtwelle aus der künftigen Pufferzone, deswegen hofft sie, dass es diesem Gesetz wie vielen ukrainischen ergeht: sie werden nicht umgesetzt. Theoretisch könnte Präsident Poroschenko noch sein Veto einlegen, doch er hat bereits angekündigt, zu unterschreiben.
Dass die Separatistenrepubliken nicht per Gesetz in die Ukraine zurückgeholt werden können, scheint ausgemacht, dass es trotzdem verabschiedet wurde, erklärt sich die junge Anwältin mit der Wahl:
“Es nützt vor allem dem Präsidenten, denn die faktische Ausrufung des Kriegszustandes in einigen Oblasten erlaubt der Regierung, die Wahlen nächstes Jahr abzusagen.”
Share
06.07.17
The unfinished concrete block house outside Kyiv is home to twenty-three refugees who were evacuated from the war in Ukraine. They share one bathroom, one kitchen, one television, and sleep on bunkbeds on its second floor. Furnishings are makeshift, the house is dark, appliances are donated, and the stairs are rickety. Most are elderly, two bedridden, and one is blind.
But in the cluttered garden, Nikolai Fyodorov sits in his wheelchair and says “to me this is a fairy tale.”
That is because despite his current living conditions, he’s lucky. Some 1.8 million Ukrainians like him have fled the war and many are homeless or cannot obtain health care, schools for their children, or jobs.
Nikolai left Krasnogorovka, a village near Donetsk, because of constant shelling.
“My son, wife, and three little kids went to Russia, but I had nothing there,” he said. “I stayed until I had to leave. I have not heard from them since.”
He was taken in by Oleg Gorbachev who ran a shelter for the homeless, drug addicts, the elderly, and other vulnerable groups in Luhansk. When the conflict broke out in April 2014, his facility was plundered by a pro-Russian militia.
“I decided to evacuate people, although the thirty-hour route to Kyiv seemed unachievable,” said Gorbachev. He drove his family, found premises, and began ferrying people from the Donbas.
“The scale of the problem is bigger than one can imagine,” said Oleg. “Their stories are terrible. Each one was cheated or deprived illegally of their homes and belongings. Sometimes relatives refused to help them. But now they have new hope, friends, are not lonely, and are without fear.”
The place survives from donations, help from a Protestant church, volunteers, and a village doctor who donates time. Only twelve of the twenty-three get government pensions of $17 a month, and they donate 70 percent toward the cost of food.
Fortunately, CrimeaSOS NGO raised enough money through crowdfunding to replace Oleg’s van recently. “I hope we can crowdfund enough to buy the house and put in an elevator,” he said. “It would cost 500,000 hyrvnia to buy (roughly $19,000).”
Volunteers do major tasks and nursing, and the healthier residents share chores and the cooking. “If they do chores, they feel better about their situation,” said Gorbachev.
He raises donations, grocery shops, manages the volunteers, and helps them get documents so they can obtain pensions, medicines, and healthcare.
“Some of the residents make camouflage nets in the backyard for ambulances going to the front and do this in return for food,” said Olena Vynogradova, a legal analyst with Right to Protection CF who took me to the hostel.
She said the burden on Ukraine is substantial and its “refugee” population is the size of Turkey’s or Jordan’s. Then there are those left in the warzone.
“Tens of thousands more are in danger all the time who live in the ‘Non-Government Controlled Areas,’” she said. “Old people or disabled people are stuck there without doctors, police protection, postal service, water, electricity, heat, and are shelled constantly.” She said Ukrainian officials are not allowed in and only three NGOs can go in.
The region is lawless and besides human rights abuses there are “children being sold,” “sex trafficking,” and “organ trading,” she said.
Tiny Nina Simyonkina lives here and uses a cane. She also feels very “lucky” to be here. Her son in Kyiv doesn’t take care of her and she lost her apartment in Luhansk while visiting friends in Russia when the invasion took place.
“Burglars moved in, then my neighbors went to court and took the apartment, claiming it was abandoned,” she said. “I came back and was homeless. I got into a hostel but was frightened by the Russian separatists who came in demanding that we swear allegiance.”
Another evacuee, Viktor, washes dishes in the backyard sun. He lived months in the basement of his village home because of constant shelling. He is deaf and 78 years old.
“He likes doing the dishes,” says Oleg beaming.
Another man, sprightly and fit, is weeding the garden while another digs a large ditch where they will refrigerate food in the winter.
Alexei Karpushyn is a middle-aged resident who said he was “nearly dead” due to medical problems when rescued by Oleg. He now works alongside him.
“We had normal lives and lost everything in a second,” he said.
The invasion was planned for some time and then “marginal people” were hired to be militias.
“I think the Russians will leave eventually, but they will steal everything before they do,” Karpushyn said.
The youngest resident is a mere 16 years old. Oleg took care of him and his single mother for several years until she recently died. He attends a nearby college.
“He’s a good boy. We look after him, and make sure he does not make bad friends,” said Karpushyn. “He wants to be a chef. Now he can be, and that will make us all very happy.”
Diane Francis is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, Editor at Large with the National Post in Canada, a Distinguished Professor at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management, and author of ten books.
