UNHCR continued to provide legal assistance to IDPs and conflict-affected populations through its NGO partners with, during the reporting period, 20,266 individuals receiving qualified individual primary or secondary legal aid services. Group legal counselling was another priority for the legal partners, during which they provided relevant legal support to all interested people of concern. Over half of legal consultations related to reinstatement of pensions/social benefits. During the reporting period, UNHCR legal partners won more than 1,254 court cases, requiring the Government of Ukraine to reinstate pensions and social payments to the population of concern. One breakthrough in 2018 was a ruling of the Supreme Court’s Grand Chamber that it was discriminatory to impose additional verification measures on IDPs as a condition for receiving their pensions. This was possible because of the joint efforts and commitment of UNHCR, its partners, and international organizations, as well as strong support from the diplomatic community.
Other priority areas included assistance with IDP registration, documentation, freedom of movement, and issues related to housing, land and property. Partners identified beneficiaries of legal assistance during protection monitoring visits or through self-referrals or referrals from other organizations or individuals or through the hotline. NGO partners in eastern Ukraine conducted regular visits to the areas along the line of contact, including the five checkpoints with NGCA, to conduct surveys and provide legal assistance to identified people of concern. UNHCR continued to invest in training of local service providers with a particular focus on issues related to the payment of pensions and other social benefits.
Upon request from regional departments of social protection, and other government entities dealing with IDPs (local authorities, pension fund, etc.), UNHCR organized seminars/workshop in the eastern oblasts with participation of 400 government and local authorities personnel directly working with IDPs. Very often, these workshops served as a forum for discussing practical issues and finding common understanding. A range of new approaches were identified thanks to the goodwill of participants and desire to help people of concern to UNHCR improve their access to various services. UNHCR was in a close contact with special advisors to the Ministry of Social Protection, who also participated in some of these workshops and provided very positive feedback and support.
During the 2018, UNHCR also continued the support to the state-run FLACs to progressively develop their capacity for responding to displacement-related cases. As a result, 338 lawyers were trained by UNHCR’s partners. The number of IDPs receiving legal aid through the FLACs increased 39% from 4,869 in 2017 to 6,769 in 2018; however, this number is still low when compared to the over 20,000 IDPs receiving legal assistance through UNHCR’s partners. UNHCR believes that the inclusion of FLACs will only strengthen the “ownership” of the Government of Ukraine over issues of the population of concern to UNHCR. More technical support to FLACs is planned for 2019 to strengthen their capacity of the entity, and strengthen access of populations of concern to free legal support.