On December 12, 2019, a regular meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Project “Internal Relocation in Ukraine: Development of Long-Term Solutions” was held in Kyiv, implemented within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021 to strengthen the capacity of internally displaced persons. displaced professionals, institutions and institutions, as well as other key partners, to improve the system of protection of human rights and access to justice in Ukraine in accordance with the standards of the Council of Europe.
Welcoming remarks were made by Lilia Gretarsdottir, Project Coordinator, Deputy Head of the Office, Department of Human Rights Policy and Cooperation, Directorate General I, Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, Ruslan Kalinin, Deputy Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine, Serhiy Nizhynsky, Deputy Minister of Social Policy for European Integration, Dmytro Lubinets, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights, Deoccupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied territories in Donetsk, Luhansk oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, national minorities and interethnic relations (hereinafter – the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights).
The project has been running since April 2018, focusing on three main areas: capacity building of displaced professionals, institutions and agencies; improving the legal framework and legal practice on internal displacement; empowering IDPs to participate and integrate at the local and regional levels.
Among the 40 participants who took part in the meeting were representatives of key partners and beneficiaries of the Project: embassies of countries that contributed to the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine for 2018-2021, the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, National School of Judges of Ukraine, Coordination Center for Legal Aid, National Bar Association of Ukraine, State Fund for Youth Housing Promotion, Institute of Economic and Legal Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, leaders of national non-governmental organizations IDP issues, Project consultants and grantees.
Anna Hristova, Project Manager, Kyiv, presented the achievements and main achievements of the Project in 2018-2019. Council members praised the Project, including the expert support provided to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights, technical assistance to five displaced institutions, and the holding of seminars and online training in the HELP course on internal displacement with partner organizations.
Board members provided constructive feedback and concrete ideas to the previous Project Work Plan for the next period. The plan will be finalized and implemented in January-September 2020.
