Minority rights and internally displaced persons. IDPs face multiple discrimination – instruments and strategies for protection are needed

The Best Practice Seminar was held in Kiev, Ukraine on March 23 in the framework of the “Eastern Partnership Minorities Network” (EaPMN). The seminar was hosted by the EaPMN implementing partner in Ukraine – Social Action Centre/No Borders Project, within the framework of the Civil Society Forum’s Working Group /Minorities and anti-discrimination subgroup. A total of 27 participants attended the seminar, a group comprised of representatives of local civil socitety organizations, state agencies, project partners from Ukraine, Georgia, and two V4 countries – Hungary and Slovakia..

The EaPMN fourth Best Practice Seminar in Ukraine was specifically focused on integration policies of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine and instruments needed to protect minorities from discrimination. Georgian and Western Balkans experiences were shared during the seminar by an expert from the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia Mrs Medea Gugeshashvili and Mr Ljubomir Micik, representing Centre for Peace, Non-Violence and Human Rights – Croatia. Overviews on the impact of the state programs of resettlement on the lives of the internally displaced population have been presented in the presentations shared by the experts. Further, impacts and consequences of these policies and its effects on the integration of internally displaced persons into mainstream societies were discussed. Experiences from the conflict-torn countries were explored, as well as the mechanisms for immediate recommendations and actions that Ukrainian civil society organizations and the government could adopt while dealing with internally displaced persons’ issues in Ukraine.