82% of IDPs do not want to leave Uzhgorod

1755 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are now registered in Uzhgorod, it is the second place in western Ukraine behind Lviv. A recent poll showed that 82% of them intend to stay in our city, even if the situation in eastern Ukraine calms down and they are able to go back to where they were forced to leave. This is a very high figure, because even in the most successful and developed countries, after 4 years following the displacement, only 60% do not return back.

The fact that the IDPs are well settled in the Uzhgorod community is also evidenced by the fact that our city is the fifth in the rating of the Internally Displaced Person Integration Index determined by the Analytical Center Cedos using indicators and methodology similar to those applied by the International Organization for Migration, dividing the entire territory of the country into 5 zones, depending on the remoteness from the uncontrolled territory of Ukraine.

The rating was made based on the IDPs’ access to urban infrastructure (city policies in such areas as labor market, housing, secondary and pre-school education, health care, work for the integration of IDPs, etc.), local authorities’ interaction with IDPs’ NGOs, raising awareness on opportunities in the city.

At the conference "Electoral Rights of Internally Displaced Persons at the Local Level in Ukraine: Strengthening Integration and the Principles of Democracy" organized by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in Kyiv, which was attended Olena Makar, the Executive Director of the Uzhgorod City Council, they presented the best practices and successful case studies on the integration of internally displaced persons. In particular, Uzhgorod City Council was the first to file an appeal to the Verkhovna Rada to support the adoption of the bill on the election rights of IDPs, the press service of Uzhgorod city council informs.