December 19, 2019 was more than just another day for Tetiana Durnieva, Director of the Ukraine-based Group of Influence — a nongovernmental organization. On this day, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) adopted a historic, new election code that dramatically transformed the country’s electoral system. The new code opened the door to Durnieva and about 1.4 million other internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as additional estimated 3-4 million internal labor migrants to participate in all elections.

“That day I wrote in my Facebook that I fulfilled another mission,” says Durnieva. “For me, it was a really important and exhausting long-standing struggle for the constitutional right to vote. Many people, acquaintances and strangers have been following, experiencing and celebrating with us this victory of democracy.”

Over the past four years, Durnieva and her Group of Influence colleagues have been working relentlessly to advocate for electoral reform and raise awareness to ensure that Ukrainian IDPs and other mobile groups can participate in elections.

After armed conflict started in her hometown of Donetsk in 2014, Durnieva had to build her life from scratch. One of the obstacles she faced was access to the electoral process: she realized there was no strong advocacy for people like her to enjoy the same electoral rights as other Ukrainian citizens.

IDPs could only vote for political party lists and not candidates from their majoritarian parliamentary districts where they reside. They were also deprived of the right to vote in local elections and for half of parliament.

Established in early 2016, the Group of Influence systematically began promoting Ukrainian IDP rights at the national and local levels involving IDPs from all regions of the country, lawmakers and international organizations. In late 2016, Group of Influence’s first project on IDP electoral and political rights was launched as part of a broader initiative supported by IFES to promote democratic progress in Ukraine made possible by the UK aid, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and Global Affairs Canada. Through this project, the Group of Influence led the “Every Voice Matters” advocacy campaign to promote IDP electoral rights. The nascent organization navigated through myths and misperceptions about IDPs’ electoral participation as the level of support for IDPs’ political rights in Ukraine was low. During this time, Group of Influence dramatically changed attitudes of politicians and society as a whole toward IDP electoral rights.

“It is hard to understate IFES’, UK aid’s, USAID’s, and Global Affairs Canada’s role in building the Group of Influence’s capacity to advocate for reform and in making system changes happen,” Durnieva says. “In 2016, IFES and UK aid supported the very first project of our newly-established organization and this made us mobilize our resources toward achieving specific objectives.”

The Group of Influence’s challenge was the long and complicated process of building alliances and connections with Ukrainian MPs who would be willing to support legislative changes which at that time had low political and societal support. In pursuit of regional lessons learned, in March 2017, IFES organized a study trip to Georgia for representatives of Ukraine’s Central Election Commission, Ukrainian MPs and civil society activists, including Durnieva.

“For me, this trip was the opportunity to learn about the Georgian experience of ensuring IDP electoral rights and, importantly, to convince the Ukrainian MPs of the need to provide full voting rights to IDPs and to build trust”, says Durnieva. “Later, Ukrainian MPs became advocates of our agenda in the Verkhovna Rada and gathered allies from all groups to register the Draft Law.”

In March 2017, these efforts saw tangible results and Draft Law Number 6240 — seeking to enfranchise millions of Ukrainian IDPs and internal labor migrants, was introduced in the Verkhovna Rada. The bill was prepared in an open and inclusive manner by the Group of Influence, Civil Network OPORA, the CEC, the Verkhovna Rada, the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and the IDP community, with expertise from IFES. It was sponsored by 24 MPs from all political parties and factions existing in Verkhovna Rada. The draft law was designed to simplify voter registration and entitled IDPs and other Ukrainian citizens to vote at their actual places of residence and their registered permanent residence.

The Group of Influence, with support from IFES, UK aid, USAID and Global Affairs Canada, built a well-functioning regional coalition of IDP rights advocates to implement a successful nationwide advocacy campaign, inspired by international standards and best practices targeting MPs, local government officials and the public. By using innovative and tailored advocacy approaches – including in-person and online flash mobs, street actions, advocacy forums, media breakfasts with stakeholders, public discussions with local communities and letter-writing campaigns – the NGO consolidated communities around its advocacy messages and delivered them to decision-makers in Ukraine.

These efforts were complemented by active international advocacy with Durnieva and other representatives of the Group of Influence contributing to international conferences and academic publications on IDP political rights. As a result of the Group of Influence’s regional advocacy campaign in 2018, thirteen local councils from across Ukraine directed official requests to Verkhovna Rada MPs urging IDP voting rights.

“When parliamentarians hear this message from national civil society organizations, they do not necessarily prioritize this on their agenda but when they go out to the regions and hear the same message from their voters, local community and authorities – when the international community points at problems with electoral rights of IDPs in Ukraine, this creates the public pressure and resonance”, says Durnieva.

Today, the Group of Influence, is part of a broader initiative supported by IFES and made possible by USAID, Global Affairs Canada and UK aid, has developed into an increasingly self-sufficient, leading voice in electoral and human rights advocacy in Ukraine and has succeeded in consolidating grassroots and political support for its key message – supporting full IDP rights and participation. Now that the new election code has introduced long-awaited reform enfranchising fully millions of Ukrainian, the Group of Influence will direct its efforts to ensure the CEC promptly adopts regulations needed for effective implementation of the new election code’s provisions and inform and educate newly enfranchised groups and the general public about the new electoral rules.

“An important step in a successful advocacy campaign is to implement change and control how lobbied changes to the law work in practice,” says Durnieva. “We are in the process of drafting the CEC regulations and continuing to make recommendations to simplify the procedure for changing the electoral address and keep this issue on the agenda. At the same time, we have the next task – to explain to voters the procedure and to activate citizens to participate in local elections under the new rules.”

IFES’ activities in Ukraine are made possible with support from the United States Agency for International Development, Global Affairs Canada and UK aid. To learn more about IFES activities in Ukraine, click here.

Since 1994, IFES has played a key role in the emergence of democratic electoral processes and institutions in Ukraine. Through this period, IFES has developed a reputation as a reliable source for impartial analysis and high-quality technical assistance in the fields of electoral and political finance law reform, election administration, civil society capacity building, civic education and public opinion research.

IFES Ukraine

In October 2019, Ukraine submitted its seventh periodic report, in which it responded to questions posed by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on October 18, 2018. A considerable number of these issues concerned the observance of economic, social and cultural rights of the conflct-affcted population in Ukraine. The state’s replies, however, do not provide the complete picture regarding the observance of the rights of such groups as IDPs and residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas as well as areas located near the war zone (the so-called «grey zone»).

This alternative report was prepared by an informal Coalition of non-governmental organizations involved in the protection of conflct-affcted persons, including IDPs and residents of the temporarily occupied territories. The authors have considerable experience in drafing and advocating for new legislation related to the protection of IDPs’ rights, participate in working groups of relevant ministries, provide signifiant social and legal assistance to conflct-affcted people and provide coverage of the events that take place in the temporarily occupied territories.

The Coalition includes:
NGO Donbas SOS, http://www.donbasssos.org
NGO Crimea SOS, http://krymsos.com/
Charitable fund Right to Protection, www.r2p.org.ua
Charitable fund Vostok SOS, http://vostok-sos.org/
NGO Civil holding GROUP OF INFLUENCE, https://www.vplyv.org.ua/
The Radnyk programme implemented by the charitable fund Stabilization Support Services, http://radnyk.org, https://sss-ua.org
NGO ZMINA Human Rights Center https://org.zmina.info/
NGO Crimean Human Rights Group https://crimeahrg.org/

Download Report

Internally displaced persons have been living in their new communities for up to five years, but the law does not yet consider them members of their communities when it comes to elections. IDPs cannot vote in local elections and are limited to elect half of the Parliament despite the Draft Law No.6240, that ensures this right, was developed in March 2017. Changing of electoral adrdress without changing residents registration is one the key prinsiple of this darft law.

Natalie Novykova presented situation on IDPs electoral rights at the Human Dimension Implementation Meetings (HDIMs) in Warsaw. Here is her speech:

This year, presidential and parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine. Unfortunately, more than 4,5 Ukrainian citizens, who are internally displaced persons and residents of temporarily occupied territories (TOT) of Crimea and Donbass, were not able to participate in the elections because of legislative gaps preventing them from exercising the right to vote. In Ukraine, the electoral address is tied to the registration of the citizen’s place of residence, which in turn often indicates ownership to the property at the address.

Millions of Ukrainians, including IDPs, students and labor migrants do not live at their official registration address. In order to vote in President and Parliament elections at the place of factual residence, citizens must apply to the State Voter Registry and temporary change their voting place without changing their electoral address. The registration is not transferable: for each election a new application is required, even in the case of a two-round election. The presidential election was held over two rounds, thus affected citizens had to undergo this procedure twice within a few weeks. Big cities such as Kiev, Lviv, and Kharkiv have the highest concentration of IDPs and internal labor migrants. In these cities the procedure could take several hours or even days because queues quickly build up at the election register offices. I would like to emphasize that for internally displaced persons, this procedure is the only way they can participate in elections.

During the presidential election, only 76,000 persons or 1% of the total number of IDPs and residents of TOT changed their voting place. Of all Ukrainian citizens who voted in a place different from their official address, IDPs made up every fourth person. Furthermore, this procedure is creating practical barriers for Ukrainian citizens who are residents of the TOT in Crimea and Donbas because it is a requirement that applications must be submitted in person. It is not possible to apply online or in another place than where you want to vote. This means that Ukrainian citizens must cross the contact line twice (there and back): first in order to submit the application and secondly, when they go and vote. This is associated with security risks and hazards, and is also expensive for many.

In the parliamentary elections, the number of IDPs who changed their place of voting decreased by one third, to 47,000 citizens. Moreover, citizens who managed to change the place of voting were only entitled to one of the two ballots: they could elect MPs running on party lists, but could not vote for candidates in the single member constituencies. Thus IDPs could only vote for half of the Parliament.

Internally displaced persons have been living in their new communities for up to five years, but the law does not yet consider them members of their communities when it comes to elections. IDPs cannot vote in local elections. Like any other citizens, IDPs work and pay taxes, and send their children to school or kindergarten in these communities. However, they have no influence over, who get elected city councilor mayor of their town. This hampers their integration in the local community and many IDPs experience a sense of being secondary citizens in their new communities. They should be able to vote in local elections and have a voice in the local democracy. If the legislation is not changed within a few months, the next local elections – currently scheduled for October 2020 – could again pass without participation of some 1.2 million citizens who live in these communities. Most IDPs have come to the decision that they are not going to return to their abandoned homes (according to surveys) and do not want to be treated differently than any other citizen. According to a recent survey among IDPs across Ukraine conducted by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), almost half of them (45%) stated that they would prefer to vote for the local representative in the communities where they currently reside. Only 11% would want to vote at the place of origin. In the most recent survey from 2019, a plurality of IDPs say that it is important for them to be able to vote in local elections (15% of respondents consider it very important, and 34% somewhat important). This is a slight increase compared to last year. In 2018, the number was 48% (13% strongly agree that it is important and 35% somewhat agree).

There are also citizens without resident registration among IDPs. IDPs children aging 14 years old receives passport or ID card without residence registration as theirs parents residents registration (property) is located at TOT. Consequently these citizens are not included into the Voting Register and have no right to participate in any elections.

Given the above, we recommend:

– The Parliament of Ukraine should amend the legislation to remove the legal and practical barriers that prevent IDPs and other mobile citizens to be able to register to vote at their factual place of residence based on the procedure elaborated in Draft Law 6240 and the registration should be transferable and not temporary;

– The Ukrainian government should unlink the electoral address of citizens from their place of registration and consider transferring from the current outdated permission based system for residence registration to a system based on the citizen’s declaration of their address as in other modern European states.

Veto of the Electoral Code made by the President of Ukraine in could be a good opportunity to include mechanism protecting electoral rights of IDPs especially in advance of the next local elections.

Video

Brief Overview of Support Programmes for IDPs and Inclusion of IDP Issues to The Regional Development Plans[1]

Prepared by Tetyana Durnyeva, Executive Director, NGO “GROUP of INFLUENCE”

Under support of the Council of Europe Project “International Displacement in Ukraine: Building Solutions” within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021

On 15 November 2017, by Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 909-p, the Strategy for the Integration of Internally Displaced Persons and the Introduction of Long-term Solutions to Internal Displacement until 2020 (hereinafter referred to as “the Strategy”) was approved.

For some territorial communities, internally displaced persons have become an additional resource, especially for those where institutions and enterprises have been transferred to from temporarily occupied territories. At the same time, many territorial communities with a large number of IDPs have faced additional load on a limited local infrastructure, the Strategy reads.

Download and read more…

[1] The opinions expressed in this background paper are the responsibility of the author and do not all necessarily reflect the official policy of the Council of Europe.

Brief overview on recommendations and statements of institutions of the Council of Europe and other international stakeholders that call upon Ukraine to consider the IDP voting rights, as well as relevant national legal acts and draft legislative amendments[1]

Prepared by Tetyana Durnyeva, Executive Director, NGO “GROUP of INFLUENCE”

Under support of the Council of Europe Project “International Displacement in Ukraine: Building Solutions” within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021

Download Brief overview on Voting Rights

[1] The opinions expressed in this background paper are the responsibility of the author and do not all necessarily reflect the official policy of the Council of Europe.    

Ukrainian IDPs plan to vote! English subtitles. Social motivation video by NGO “Civil Holding GROUP OF INFLUENCE” and partners.

“Take your internal passport to your nearest office of the State Register of Voters on or before the 25th of March and apply to change your voting place. More details can be found online at: drv.gov.ua”

Short and long versions

 

Public organizations and experts have said internally displaced persons (IDPs) can vote in Ukraine’s presidential elections, noting the procedure for changing the place of voting, and have urged the Verkhovna Rada to adopt draft law No. 6240. The measure will allow mobile categories of citizens and internally mixed individuals to exercise their voting rights at all levels.

“IDPs, residents of the occupied territories and other mobile categories of citizens within the country can exercise their right to elect the head of state and, in my opinion, should do this,” Hrupa Vplyvu (Group of Influence) Director Tetyana Durnyeva said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.

She recalled that in 2014, about 2 million residents of the Donetsk region could not take part in voting at the presidential election due to the occupation of district election commissions and the terrorist threat. She said at parliamentary elections the same year only a small number of voters registered in the temporarily occupied territory used the procedure of temporary change of the place of voting.

“There are no obstacles to the realization of the right to vote if people use the procedure of temporarily changing the place of voting without changing the voting address,” Durnyeva said, adding that statements and passports with registration in the temporarily occupied territory is sufficient.

Durnyeva said Ukraine’s parliament should adopt draft law No. 6240, which would allow mobile categories of citizens within the country to exercise electoral rights in elections at all levels.

Oleksandr Kliuzhev, an analyst of the Civil Network Opora, thanked the representatives of local self-government who raised questions about the need to adopt the bill No. 6240.

“I think that for the Verkhovna Rada such activities should be an example to finally solve this problem in 2019,” he said.

Kliuzhev said Ukraine has all the infrastructure and public conditions to solve the problem of ensuring the electoral rights of internally displaced persons and other categories of citizens who are mobile within the country. According to him, the upcoming elections will be the first test for the state on the ability to ensure voting for mobile categories of Ukrainians.

Interfax-Ukraine

Internal displacement continues to be a human tragedy for the millions who are forced to leave their homes because of armed conflict, climate change or natural disaster. Although many national governments take adequate measures to mitigate the negative effects of displacement, others are more reluctant and do not extend full rights and services to their fellow citizens. Often internally displaced persons (IDPs) find themselves deprived of the right to take part in elections on equal terms with other citizens. In September 2016, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) published a white paper, Internally Displaced Persons and Electoral Participation: A Brief Overview, to promote greater awareness of this often overlooked issue. The white paper contains 17 recommendations in support of the implementation of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the main global instrument for protection and promotion of the rights of persons affected by displacement within their country adopted by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1998.

On October 18, 2018, IFES took part in two separate international events commemorating the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Guiding Principles. In Geneva, Switzerland, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre organized an interdisciplinary conference, which explored ways to include IDP needs in national development with a focus on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. IFES International Senior Adviser Hannah Roberts spoke about IDPs’ political participation and presented IFES’ white paper recommendations. Tetyana Durnyeva of IFES’ civil society partner Group of Influence presented a case study on Ukraine.

IFES argues that IDPs’ electoral participation is crucial for reconciliation and preventing marginalization. The political voice of IDPs is crucial for making governments more responsive and accountable, including on the provision of services and solutions for IDPs. Securing IDPs’ electoral rights in their place of origin or current location is key to a durable solution for IDP settlement. “However, realizing such rights in practice is complex and politically sensitive,” said Roberts, “especially given that IDP populations can change constituency electorates and alter election outcomes. IDPs are often seen as predominantly representing the interest of one party, thereby creating an incentive for other parties not to address enfranchisement issues.”

Regrettably, the latter statement reflects the current thinking of the political elite in Ukraine regarding the country’s more than 1.5 million citizens who became IDPs during the armed conflict in the country’s eastern Donbas region and the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula by the Russian Federation in 2014. Since the conflict began, Ukrainian authorities have not removed the legal and practical barriers that prevent IDPs from exercising their right to vote in local elections and in the majoritarian component of parliamentary elections. “To feel equal in our new communities, we need the ability to exercise our constitutional right to vote and elect our local leaders,” said Durnyeva. “In partnership with IFES Ukraine, Group of Influence will continue its advocacy campaign for the right of IDPs to vote in all kinds of elections. We aim at the adoption of draft law no. 6240.” Draft law no. 6240 envisages that IDPs and mobile segments of society, such as economic migrants and student youth, may register to vote at their current place of residence.

The residency registration or propiska system in Ukraine remains essentially unchanged from Soviet times and constitutes a legal and practical barrier for IDP voting rights. Large segments of the population have a registered residence where they do not physically reside anymore. To register a new address is cumbersome, and IDPs often lack the necessary paperwork that would allow them to apply for a new propiska. Additionally, they risk losing their IDP status and access to humanitarian aid and other benefits if they give up their registration at place of origin.

IFES recently commissioned a national face-to-face survey of IDPs to examine their knowledge of and attitudes toward political and electoral processes. The survey found that most IDPs have settled well in their new communities. However, most Ukrainian IDPs surveyed are unwilling to break connections with their home communities to obtain voting rights for local elections. The ability to be actively involved in a future settlement of the conflict is a strong incentive for some IDPs not to give up their propiska in the occupied territories. IDPs should have a choice that would allow them to exercise voting rights now and after a peaceful settlement of the conflict – at their place of origin or current residence. Their choice should not have consequences for IDP status or access to humanitarian assistance.

The lack of full voting rights of Ukrainian IDPs is now the subject of two cases with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg filed by Ukrainian IDPs who were barred from voting in the 2015 local elections.

IFES was also represented at a roundtable discussion on IDPs held in Amman, Jordan, on October 18 by IFES International Senior Adviser Harald Jepsen and partner organization Civil Network OPORA Analyst Oleksandr Kliuzhev. The event was organized jointly by the Global Protection Cluster and the Carter Center and included participants engaged in humanitarian relief, development work, human rights protection and elections from more than 15 countries.

In his presentation, Jepsen called on election observers to pay more attention to monitoring the participation of IDPs in all aspects of the electoral process. “Most observer organizations have developed comprehensive guidelines for monitoring the participation of marginalized and underrepresented groups in elections such as women, national minorities and persons with disabilities, but there are no comprehensive guidelines for monitoring the electoral participation of IDPs”. Kliuzhev, who co-authored the draft law no. 6240, is himself an IDP from Donetsk. “There is nothing essential preventing Ukraine from removing the last obstacles for granting full political rights to citizens that have been forced to leave the conflict zone. IDPs in Ukraine are well-integrated in their communities. They naturally want to take part in public life and enjoy the right to vote in all elections, including local. We hope the forthcoming ruling by the European Court of Human Rights will prove the Ukrainian courts wrong and compel our lawmakers to give IDPs the opportunity to vote in all elections.”

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (the Congress) of the Council of Europe (CoE) monitored the last 2015 local elections in Ukraine and recommended lawmakers to extend full voting rights to the IDP population ahead of the next 2020 local elections. On November 6, the 35th plenary session of the Congress adopted a report entitled Voting rights at local level as an element of successful long-term integration of migrants and IDPs in Europe’s municipalities, to which IFES provided expert input. Rapporteur Jos Wienen (EPP/CCE, L) noted with regret in his opening remarks that Ukraine has not yet acted on the Congress’ recommendation. An estimated 2.5-3 million Ukrainian citizens are currently disenfranchised because they live far away from their place of official registration.

Speaking at the plenary session of the Congress in Strasbourg, Jepsen named the propiska system a double-edged sword for Ukraine’s IDPs. It is currently preventing them from enjoying full voting rights. On the other hand, the propiska is recognized by the de-facto authorities on territories currently not under government control. Thus, it allows IDPs access to the occupied territories and visits to family members on the other side. “However,” said Jepsen, “the root cause of the problem for IDPs in Ukraine is the propiska system, which needs to be dismantled in the long term.” Jepsen stated that since the beginning of the displacement crisis in Ukraine, IFES has been involved in finding solutions for the electoral participation of IDPs. IFES and its civil society partners held broad consultations in the process of elaborating draft law no. 6240. Stakeholders acknowledged that any solution for IDPs needs to be carefully worked out so as not to compromise the overall integrity of the electoral process.

As a recent International Crisis Group report has pointed out, the current policies of Kyiv toward conflict-affected citizens on both sides of the contact line in Donbas, including IDPs, risks alienating them from their own government. At the end of its plenary session the Congress adopted a resolution calling upon Ukraine to grant its IDPs full voting rights. IFES Ukraine continues promoting electoral rights for IDPs in Ukraine with the support of the United States Agency for International Development and UK aid. It is currently developing a voter information campaign for the 2019 presidential election jointly with its civil society partner Group of Influence and preparing for the next survey of IDP attitudes toward elections and participation in electoral and political processes in December 2018.

from International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) website