The Verkhovna Rada adopted in the second reading and as a whole a draft law that introduces a new database for verifying the needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and improves mechanisms for providing temporary housing to displaced persons, and also stipulates that the conditions for pension payments cannot contain additional or different requirements from the general procedure, reports a correspondent of UNN.
Details
A total of 307 members of parliament voted in favor of draft law No. 12301 "On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine 'On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons' and Other Laws of Ukraine."
As stated by the head of the VR committee on the organization of state power, local self-government, regional development and urban planning, Olena Shuliak, one of the key provisions of the draft law is guaranteeing the opportunity for all IDPs to enjoy the full scope of constitutional rights and freedoms regardless of the fact of registration.
"Additional requirements can be established only when a person uses special benefits or additional guarantees, and only to the extent necessary to prevent abuse," Shuliak noted.
The document also clarifies basic concepts, in particular "abandoned place of residence," "adaptation," "integration," "reintegration," and "place of temporary residence." This allows considering internal displacement not as a one-time event, but as a process with different stages and different human needs at each of them.
Instead of a certificate of registration as an IDP, it is envisaged to generate an extract from the relevant database, which should reduce the dependence of access to services on the availability of a paper document and make the system more convenient for people.
An important change, Shuliak emphasized, is the introduction of an assessment of IDP needs. It is this that should determine the scope of additional guarantees and assistance, in particular financial assistance for living. This approach allows moving from a formal status to more targeted support for a specific person or family.
"A separate block of changes concerns the housing rights of IDPs. The document provides for the regulation of the activities of temporary accommodation places, as well as various mechanisms for realizing the right to housing: preferential loans, acquisition of ownership, purchase of housing, use or rental of housing, and other instruments," the MP added.
Recall
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a decision that defines the mechanism for temporarily providing IDPs with housing in rural areas.