How IDPs are fighting bureaucracy in Transcarpathia

Internally displaced persons ask Transcarpathian officials to respond to two issues.

Three applications for the registration of children at the place of registration of their parents were submitted to the Uzhgorod City Council by IDPs currently residing in Uzhgorod. Their homes remain in the East, and that’s where they are registered. And children cannot be registered along with adults. Last month, as part of the advocacy campaign "Woman’s Voice Has Power", which is coordinated in Transcarpathia by the Uzhgorod Press Club, IDPs (internally displaced persons) started working more actively on the issue of registration for obtaining of first passports by 14-year-olds.

Transcarpathian IDPs have been having issues with registration of children for a long time and they have decided to work in this matter more actively. First, IDPs applied for registration of the place of residence to the Main Office of the State Migration Service in Transcarpathian region. And they received official answers: in accordance with the legislative changes that came into force on April 4, 2016, the registration authority is the executive body of the village, town or city council. Therefore, the requests were referred to the mayor of Uzhgorod.

Angela Babkina, the Advisor to the Ministry of Social Policy on Internally Displaced Persons in Transcarpathian Region, who filed applications with the IDPs, said that the problem of registering migrant children when obtaining a passport is becoming more and more relevant.

The second problem that IDPs are trying to solve is the opportunity to participate in local elections. Angela Babkina and Tetyana Khoroshilova, NGO "Transcarpathia-Donbass", sent the mayor relevant requests.

Currently, IDPs are waiting for answers to inquiries and are preparing to defend their rights in court.