If a person has misplaced their documents, failed to receive their state benefits, or has other problems caused by the war.
The international organization IREX in Ukraine and the Charity Foundation Stabilization Support Services provide free legal advice to IDPs within the framework of the program United Voices in Action. We explain how you can apply for assistance and receive professional support until the problem is resolved.
People who had to relocate because of the war face multiple challenges at the same time. After a harrowing experience of endangerment and evacuation, they do not always have the strength and capacity to navigate the formalities of obtaining certificates, finding the right organizations, and drafting documents. The employees of government agencies are often unable to keep track of all the changes in legislation or do not have time to provide full support to such clients.
What issues can I consult the lawyers on?
You can seek advice from the lawyers of the United Voices in Action program in case of inquiries related to the normalization of your life after moving from occupied territory, the war zone, and other dangerous areas.
For example, IDPs will be provided with consultations on the following issues:
- How to obtain an internally displaced person (IDP) certificate;
- How to obtain or restore social benefits;
- How to recover lost documents;
- How to receive compensation for destroyed or damaged housing;
- Education, housing, employment, and other rights of IDPs.
According to the project’s lawyers, most inquiries are about the processing and calculation of social benefits. In Zakarpatska Oblast, people often inquire about traveling abroad: whether it is possible to travel with an internal passport, how to leave if you had debts and the executive service banned you from leaving the country, what documents you need for minor children, etc. People often request assistance with lost or missing documents. For example, from the liberated territories of Kharkivska and Khersonska oblasts, we received requests to obtain birth and death certificates for people who were born or died during the occupation.
There are also many questions related to labor rights: receiving salaries, downtime, dismissal, and reinstatement on territories returned under government control.
What kind of assistance is available?
The lawyers answer questions, explain where to go to solve certain issues and provide the necessary contacts. They can also help you write applications, appeals, and inquiries.
Oksana Savytska, a lawyer for the United Voices in Action program
Lawyers prepare these documents with reference to the law. People who apply, and the officials who receive them, do not always know the law. When an application is prepared competently, with reference to the law, it significantly speeds up the resolution of any issue.
After that, lawyers stay in touch with the person until they solve their problem and achieve their goal.
Can I visit a lawyer in the office?
The IDP legal support project operates in 15 oblasts of Ukraine, but it has no physical offices. The lawyers communicate with IDPs remotely, by phone or the Internet, but if necessary, they can visit the client or accompany the person to a certain institution. Oksana Savytska noted that the majority of people seeking help are IDPs who now live in parts of Ukraine located far from the war zone.
Can the project’s lawyers help me with filing a lawsuit?
No, the project provides only primary legal assistance. If a person needs help in court, lawyers inform them that they have the right to a state-appointed lawyer. For example, in Volynska Oblast, a man without documents asked a lawyer for assistance.
Oksana Savytska
He only had a Soviet Union passport, which he had not changed to a Ukrainian one. Now, without a passport, he cannot receive social benefits, an IDP certificate, humanitarian aid, etc. The lawyer, who is also an attorney, wanted to help this man in court for free. She is gathering documents to prepare a lawsuit, establish citizenship and help him get a passport
How many people have already been assisted by the project’s lawyers?
On average, one lawyer provides 50 consultations per month. In total, over 1,500 people received legal aid in three month period from October to December 2022.
What difficult situations did the lawyers help you resolve?
With the start of the heating season, people started asking questions about paying for utilities in the occupied territories.
One woman’s house was destroyed during the hostilities, and she moved to a government-controlled area, but she continues to receive gas bills and accumulate debt. The lawyers helped the woman prepare an appeal to the utility company, and advised her to attach photos of the destroyed house as proof that it was destroyed, along with an IDP certificate stating that the displaced person was no longer living in the house. Later, the woman reported that the utility company had taken everything into account, recalculated the bill, and stopped charging her for utilities.
Another appeal concerned utility meter verification: it was time to perform this procedure, but she was away from home, so she could not provide the utility company with access to the meter. The lawyers provided clarifications and excerpts from government regulations stating that all meters are valid during martial law, even if the verification period has expired.
Oksana Savytska
We explain the provisions of the law to the employees of the institutions themselves, which they did not know about. And we demonstrate that they are violating people’s rights due to their ignorance
Another story is from Khersonska Oblast. Before the full-scale invasion, a young woman got married and planned to change her last name, so they put a note in her passport that it had to be changed. It had to be done within a month, but she didn’t have time to get a new passport before the hostilities broke out. While under occupation, she gave birth to a child, and when the hostilities intensified, she was able to leave with her child for government-controlled territory. In Kryvyi Rih, she went to the civil registry office to get a birth certificate for her child. She was rejected because her passport was invalid, and she was referred to the migration service. However, the migration service was of no help as well and said that her passport had been sent to Kherson. The migration officers did not explain what she was supposed to do next.
Oksana Savytska
However, our lawyer talked to the head of the local migration service, found out the rationale for the refusal, and prepared certain documents and a substantiated written appeal. The Migration Service listened and agreed to issue a new passport
This story lasted about a month and ended well: now the young woman has a passport and can get all the certificates and payments.
What should I do if I have registered as an IDP but have not received assistance from the state?
According to the law, the money must be credited within 10 days from the date of application. Lawyers say you need to worry if you have not received payment for more than a month. Then you should submit a written application to your Social Protection Department.
Oksana Savytska
We have developed a template application for such situations: you need to provide your personal data, your tax identification number, and your IDP certificate number
Within three days of submitting the application, the person must receive a written response as to why the payment was delayed. The reasons can vary: for example, a person received payments in one region, then moved, and the departments need to communicate to pass on information to each other and avoid making double payments.
Oksana Savytska
In our experience, filing an application speeds up the payment process. The administration takes notice of the person and figures out where the problem lies. An application is a better tool than a phone call because a written document must be followed by a written official response
What should a person who has lost a passport do?
You need to report your lost passport to the police so that no one else can use it. Then you need to apply to the State Migration Service, regardless of your place of residence: you receive the service in the place where you are. Then it all depends on when the previous passport was issued. If a person also has a travel passport obtained after 2014, restoring the internal passport will be a simple matter. There is a database with all the information about a person, and within a month, you will receive a new document. If you do not have a passport, you must submit additional documents to prove your identity: a pension or driver’s license, student ID card, etc. Sometimes you may need witnesses (relatives) who can confirm the data of the person who had lost the documents.
Who can be a legal representative of an internally displaced minor?
Any of their relatives can. Once a woman who had moved from Donetska to Zakarpatska Oblast with her two grandchildren approached the lawyers. The children have no father, and their mother serves in the army. The local social protection department refused to issue IDP certificates to children because their grandmother is not their legal representative, and their parents are required.
Oksana Savytska
The lawyer made an excerpt from the resolution, prepared an appeal, went with the grandmother to the social security department, explained everything to the employees there, and they agreed that they were wrong and issued IDP certificates to the children
From the age of 14, a child can apply for an IDP certificate on their own, but not all institution representatives are aware of this either.
How can I get a consultation?
You need to fill out the online form indicating your personal contacts and the nature of the request. After that, one of the project’s lawyers will reach out to you, and you will be able to arrange a convenient way to communicate in the future: by phone, Viber or Telegram, email, etc.
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