Today, with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk and representatives of public organizations, a presentation of the draft State Policy Strategy on Internal Displacement for the period up to 2025 was held.

The document was developed by the Ministry of Reintegration with the expert support of the Council of Europe project “Internal Displacement in Ukraine: Developing Durable Solutions. Phase II”. It was also developed with the assistance of public and international organizations that protect the rights of persons affected by Russia’s armed aggression.

“The full-scale invasion of Russia has caused the largest displacement of people in Europe since the Second World War. As of the beginning of February 2022, there were almost 1.5 million IDPs in Ukraine, while in January 2023, more than 4.8 million people were registered as IDPs. This is a very significant part of the country’s population. Given this scale and the continuation of the internal displacement process, it became necessary to update the State Policy Strategy to take into account new challenges,” the Vice Prime Minister said at the beginning of the presentation.

The participants agreed that state support should be provided at all stages – from the moment the decision to evacuate is made to the voluntary return to the place of permanent residence.

Thus, the Government should focus on 5 strategic goals:

1. Strengthening the state’s capacity to respond to the challenges of internal displacement.
2. Ensuring the safe evacuation of citizens from dangerous areas and meeting their humanitarian needs.
3. Facilitating the adaptation of IDPs at the new place of residence.
4. Facilitating the integration of IDPs in hosting communities.
5. Supporting safe return to the place of origin and reintegration.

“All these key goals are detailed in the Strategy. A document of this size was developed based on experience that is unprecedented in Europe. I am grateful to the public sector that contributed to the development of the project, as well as to the Council of Europe for its continuous support of Ukraine. I urge the public to join the discussion, we look forward to your suggestions and are open to cooperation. After all positions are agreed upon, the draft will soon be submitted for approval by the Government,” Iryna Vereshchuk summarized.

We are reminding that written proposals for the draft Strategy can be sent by February 24, 2023, to the following email address: [email protected].