NON-RECOGNITION OF “DOCUMENTS” ISSUED AT THE PLACE OF RESIDENCE.
INVALID PROPERTY SALES TRANSACTIONS AND EVEN INABILITY TO LEGALLY INHERIT.
DIFFICULTY IN ADMINISTERING JUSTICE.
THIS IS NOT A COMPLETE LIST OF THE DIFFICULTIES FACED BY RESIDENTS OF THE UNCONTROLLED PART OF DONBAS AND OCCUPIED CRIMEA. In addition, for people across the contact line, the future is still unclear: who will be granted amnesty and who may be punished after de-occupation?
Who will compensate for the damage caused by the conflict?
All this should be resolved by the law on transitional justice.
The relevant draft law, developed by the Ministry of Reintegration, is currently being discussed by the legal community of Donbas, namely the Donbas Regional Council for Justice Reform. At the same time, on March 11, 2021, the President of Ukraine signed a decree implementing the NSDC decision “On the Strategy for De-occupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol,” which also refers to transitional justice.
Experts of the EU Project “Pravo-Justice” also help to apply foreign experience in de-occupation.
To what extent is the situation in Ukraine unique and what should be taken into account before adopting the document?
One of the key problems faced by residents of the uncontrolled territories is the registration of birth and death, marriage and divorce documents in the government-controlled areas.
Currently, all of this is done only through court proceedings.
Although the institutions are meeting people’s needs as much as possible by speeding up the consideration of such cases, the procedure still remains difficult, says Olena Fonova, judge-speaker of the Economic Court of Luhansk Oblast, coordinator of the Donbas Regional Council for Justice Reform. “People need to come, and more than once, to the settlement where there is an institution that deals with this, spend at least a day, find a place to spend the night if they did not manage to cope in one day and did not go through all the queues at the checkpoints and checkpoints in the ORDLO,” says Olena Fonova. – All of these are financial and time costs.
If you go to court to establish the fact of birth or death, so that the registry office can issue the appropriate certificate, another point in their algorithm of actions is “. The administration of justice in the government-controlled territory is also difficult for residents of Donetsk and Luhansk, says Olena Fonova. This is especially important, in particular, for applying for or restoring a pension. There are two ways to file a lawsuit: by mail and electronically. However, older people often do not have access to the Internet or do not know how to use it, and post offices are located only in government-controlled areas. “Further, it’s not easy either,” comments the judge-speaker. – To file a lawsuit, you need to draft it.
This is very difficult for someone without a law degree.
In addition, someone must also attend court hearings and represent the plaintiff’s interests, for example.
It is impossible to find a lawyer without traveling to our territory, as representation of a citizen requires a notarized power of attorney, which is also certified in the government-controlled territory.
All these difficulties are a significant obstacle for a person residing in the temporarily occupied territory to access a Ukrainian court “, – says
Olena Fonova. The draft law on the state policy of the transition period, which is currently being discussed by the legal community, including the Donbas Regional Council for Justice Reform, is intended to solve the urgent problems with the papers of Ukrainian citizens and to clarify a common vision of the future of the uncontrolled territories. The draft law was created by the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine (MinRintegration). ”
The draft law is noteworthy because finally, after 7 years, the state has managed to make an attempt to legislate many painful issues for people in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT),” notes
Olena Fonova. The new draft law provides for solving problems with documents: in particular, after its adoption, residents of the uncontrolled territories will no longer have to go to court to recognize birth or death, marry or divorce. Instead, everything will be resolved at the registry offices. The issue of recognition of certain transactions will also be settled. ”
Finally, people will not need to make a will or a gift in the LPR and in the territory controlled by Ukraine,” notes
Elena Fonova. The law also regulates many issues of the post-occupation period that will arise when the occupation is lifted.
This is very important to bring the governance of the settlements back to normal and ensure the rights of citizens in these territories “.
The draft law should become a document that will help increase the trust of residents of the uncontrolled territories, says Alyona Lunyova, secretary of the working group on reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories of the Presidential Commission on Legal Reform, national expert of the EU Pravo-Justice Project. “Transitional justice is built around the victim, that is, around a person who has suffered from the conflict,” comments Alyona Lunyova. – In this concept, it is the interests of the individual that must be protected.
And even responsibility is more about what the victims of the conflict should feel – the evil that caused the armed conflict should not go unpunished.
This is the main value vector.
Secondly, the main tasks of the state and its leadership should be spelled out here.” . Transitional justice has four main components: investigation of criminal offenses committed during the conflict, reparations for victims, the right to the truth about the armed conflict and its participants, and institutional reforms that prevent the outbreak of new conflicts. Investigating crimes requires documenting violations of international humanitarian law. In addition to domestic law enforcement agencies, international missions are also involved in this process. In order to pay reparations, registers of destroyed property and legal mechanisms for compensation are needed. Perfect mechanisms of amnesty and lustration, as well as the restoration of public administration in the occupied territories, will help to avoid social tensions. Lawyers say it is the state’s responsibility to ensure the existence of these components. “Central and binding to the concept of the law would be a state declaration that people living in the uncontrolled territories have not committed crimes and should not be held accountable for living under occupationinsists Alyona Luneva.
— І саме про такі ініціативи люди і мають чути насамперед».
74% відсотки українців виступають за відновлення зв’язків з непідконтрольними територіями.
Та за те, щоб ініціативу на себе у цьому питанні взяла держава.
Про це свідчить соціологічне дослідження «Думки та погляди українців щодо збройного конфлікту на території України», виконане Київським міжнародним інститутом соціології за підтримки ПРООН в Україні.
Введення перехідного правосуддя передбачено і «Стратегією деокупації та реінтеграції Автономної Республіки Крим та міста Севастополя», реалізація якої передбачена рішенням РНБО.
Указ про виконання рішення підписав президент України Володимир Зеленський 11 березня 2021.
Стратегією, зокрема, передбачено відшкодування шкоди постраждалим, притягнення до відповідальності винних, визнання права на правду про конфлікт та недопущення виникнення конфліктів знову.
У цих умовах законопроєкт про перехідне правосуддя стане і відповіддю на суспільний запит, і ключовим документом, який сприятиме реінтеграції тимчасово окупованих територій. Written by journalist Oksana Viter for the EU Project Pravo-Justice