Infographics and details about the Draft Law #2501а-1
During the VRU Conciliation Board session, activists brought a model of voting booth to the Parliament, with inscription “No IDPs allowed” on it, and a yellow-and-blue sign saying “3%” – the number of eligible to vote IDPs. The activists welcomed MPs with posters saying “Integrate, don't discriminate”, “Don't be afraid of your people”, “Equal political rights”, “Break your fears, not the Constitution”, and called to urgently include the bill #2501a-1, jointly drafted by experts and MPs, into the agenda and adopt it, in order to regulate voting rights of internally displaced persons in accordance with international standards and Ukraine's obligations.
“On one hand, the bill #2501a-1 is called to emphasize that the state is ready to integrate IDPs into their new communities, and provide a comprehensive mechanism for this process. On the other hand, it is going to decrease manipulations with their votes. MPs were developing it jointly with organizations working on the election processes analysis, and organizations protecting the rights of internally displaced persons. “Draft law #2501a-1 is the only bill for today which takes into consideration peculiarities of local elections and the need to guarantee constitutional rights of internally displaced persons”, – Expert on IDPs Problems at Institute for Social and Economic Studies Tetiana Durnieva stated.
Oleksandr Kliuzhev, Analyst at the Civil Network OPORA, has emphasized: “Guarantees for realization of IDPs voting rights is not only a problem of a single electoral group, but also a matter of a civilized state and society. Disputing on voting rights, some politicians attempt to contrast interests of internally displaced persons and other voters (migrant workers, for example) causing serious concern about their purely political motives. Although there are no signs of political will to regulate voting rights of internally displaced persons, we still have a hope. Voting rights, by the way, is a major difference between Ukraine and 'Russian world'. We must clearly demonstrate this difference.”
Serhii Tkachenko, the Executive Director of the Donetsk regional branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, has emphasized on the need to integrate IDPs into their new territorial communities: “Finding a way to guarantee voting rights of internally displaced persons in the upcoming elections is a strategic goal for Ukraine. It's a democracy and civilization test for our society, time to show how the majority respects the rights of minority. Peace, prosperity and harmony in Ukraine depend on how well internally displaced persons will be able to integrate into their new territorial communities, and how efficiently the state will conduce such integration. A matter of human rights concerns everyone, whether the rights of a person or a social group are violated. In other words, if you see today how other social groups are being discriminated against and don't do anything about it, others will watch you being discriminated against tomorrow, and stay away from it.”
A lot of IDPs from Donetsk, Luhansk oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea have also participated in the rally. “Being an IDP and NGO activist, I can say that IPDs know local problems very well. They know this not because they're active in political life, but because the situation made them simultaneously apply to schools, preschools, register in polyclinics, re-register entrepreneurships, and restore documents. IDPs have monitored almost every local government body over this year and have the right to influence their election, as long as the very local governmental bodies are obliged to guarantee rights of IDPs,” – explained Oleksandra Dvoretska, Head of the Board of the Vostok SOS Citizen Initiative.
Infographics and details about the Draft Law #2501а-1
Reference: The Draft Law of Ukraine on Amendments to Some Legislative Acts Guaranteeing Voting Rights of Internally Displaced Persons #2501а-1 of 21.08.2015 was initiated and developed by: Civil Network OPORA, Donetsk Oblast Organization of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Right for Protection All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation, Social and Economic Research Institute, Vostok SOS and Crimea SOS Citizen Initiatives, as well as MPs of Ukraine Serhii Taruta, Nataliia Veselova, Hanna Hopko, Oleksii Riabchyn, Yehor Firsov, Alona Shkrum, Viktoriia Ptashnyk, Ostap Yednak and Oksana Yurynets.