The Foundation delivers two workshops in the Dnipro and Zaporizhia Oblasts
From 20-23 May 2019, the Max Planck Foundation conducted two workshops in Dnipro and Zaporizhia, respectively. Legal aid lawyers from the region took part together with a senior member of staff from the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights who is responsible for internally displaced persons (IDPs). A Senior Research Fellow from the Foundation introduced the workshop programme to the audience and delivered presentations. Two Ukrainian legal professionals equally contributed on several topics of the workshop agenda.
The programme covered international and national legal protection of IDPs. The trainers and the participants discussed a number of impediments to local integration of IDPs and the applicable legal standards. IDPs access to pensions, civil documentation as well as housing remain a challenge and a substantial amount of time was devoted to discussing these issues. Participants from both events pointed out that it is crucial to achieve sustainable solutions for IDPs in line with the requirements of international human rights law. In that context they addressed the concept of durable solutions and its practical applicability. Participants also dealt with effective access to legal remedies and the principle of non-discrimination in several working groups where they had the opportunity to find a common solution to specific legal problems the IDPs face in their daily lives.