Over 17,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed during three-years of conflict in eastern Ukraine. With no immediate end in sight, the crisis continues to exacerbate the daily lives of thousands of people who have lost their homes and land.
“My house was destroyed in October 2014. I appealed to local and central authorities for compensation. I pursued legal procedures at court in Kyiv, then at the District Administrative Court and finally at the Supreme Administrative Court. All of them dismissed my lawsuit. How can the Government of Ukraine say that it protects the rights of people of eastern Ukraine?” claimed Galina Petrova, a resident of Popasna in Luhansk region. For over two years she has appealed to numerous authorities and courts for help, but to no avail.
Galina is not alone in trying to defend her rights through Ukraine’s court system. Today, over 100 cases stand before the courts, all appealing for compensation for damaged or destroyed houses. However, not one single case has yet resulted in a victim receiving compensation.
Even when a first court rules in favour of a person whose house is damaged, the state routinely appeals the case. This is because of the lack of clear legal procedures for the compensation of damages to property caused by hostilities. Existing legal norms are controversial and create legal ambiguity. Another challenge is that no budget exists for providing compensation.
The present legal ambiguity, coupled with the financial costs of court cases, prevents many people from claiming damages through formal legal proceedings. Court fees alone amount to one per cent of the value of the property claim, which is beyond what ordinary people are able to pay.
“Due to the protracted conflict, the economic resources of displaced families and host communities are decreasing. Many families are living in increasingly deplorable conditions. For this reason, addressing fundamental issues of housing, land and property rights are so important in order to provide families with security and stability,” stressed Christopher Mehley, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s country director in Ukraine.
“There are still a number of blind spots in our understanding of internally displaced people’s (IDP) displacement trajectories, and of their specific needs and vulnerabilities”, said Alexandra Bilak, Director of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. “Internal displacement in Ukraine is likely to become protracted if IDPs’ access to services and assistance continues to be linked to social and other benefits, and if the right conditions are not put in place to ensure IDPs’ access to housing and stable employment opportunities. It is important to consider targeted and long-term solutions for internally displaced people before they become more vulnerable and risk relapsing into a category of people needing long-term humanitarian assistance.”
The Norwegian Refugee Council recommends the following action by the Government of Ukraine:
- Develop and implement administrative procedures for restitution and compensation for damage and loss of property caused by hostilities in eastern Ukraine.
- Establish an ad hoc claims commission that is authorised to provide both formal assessments of damages and to enforce compensation claims from the state budget of Ukraine.
