Verkhovna Rada must review at the beginning of July the the project of the law about compensation to internally displaced persons the property, lost as a result of fightings. Deputies and public figures tell about how and when compensations will be payed. Officials get confused with number of damaged housing and migrants offer their variants and wait for the court with Russia.

The different statistics of power

The bill “about amendments to the Law of Ukraine “about ensuring the rights and freedoms of internally displaced persons”. Conciliation Board will determine the day of voting law om Monday, June 22. Project provides the payment to migrants the money compensations for damaged or lost housing or other property as a result of fightings. According to official data of The Department of Economic Development and Trading of Lugansk regional military and civil administration, there is 360 multi-family homes and 2,024 of private dwellings damaged by fightings on the controlled by Ukraine territory. If you believe the official estimates the the amount of damage caused to the housing stock is 281 million and 420 thousand hryvnias. Moreover statistics doesn’t divide completely destroyed and partially damaged buildings, writing all in one graph — “damaged during the fightings”.

However, the edition office of informator.lg.ua found out on the conditions of the anonymity of the source, that only District Administration of Stanitsa Luhanska counts moreover 2 and half of thousand of damaged by fightings multi-family homes and private dwellings in its region, where more than 250 of housing are completely destroyed.

“Statistics is mostly understated, because there is a lot of cases, when owners of the houses are absent on a place and acts about destroying simply didn’t compiled” — told the source.

Eight hundred thousand per second

“My house is not far from Luhansk airport — tells Nickolay, the migrant from Luhansk — Where there was a fightings for airport the heavy machinery of insurgents was located near my house: tank, infantry fighting vehicle and ack-ack. They fired on airport where our militaries were. We moved out to our relatives and fortunately we weren’t at home. The pilot, tried to destroy heavy machinery made a mistake in calculations just for a second and a half. The tank wasn’t shot down, but my house had a serious damage. The oriel was removed by the blast. The part of bearing wall crumbled, internal partitions of course, too. The serious damage was inflicted to the roof. In total it is necessary to shift the three walls again.

Curiously enough, Nickolay didn’t blame the pilot in his trouble.

“I consider that it’s a guilty of command, it was impossible to send at a point object plane with unguided rockets… A five years ago I thought: do I like that I live in Ukraine? And I answered definitely yes. I support Ukrainian side in this conflict. However, that was our pilot, but this was within fightings and they happened because somebody decided that Ukraine could become a Russia” — considers migrant.

Nickolay considers that he won’t recovery the house by himself.

“The repair of house will take 700-800 of thousand of UAH. And it’s minimal price if I do by myself everything and don’t hire people. But I can’t do all myself and really don’t know how to do everything.  We went to City Council of Luhansk after bombing and filed an application about happened with our house. However, naturally the applications don’t have any importance in “LPR”. When the procedure for presentation of claims to Russia, I will litigate with Russia” — says Nickolay.

Do we have a right?

“While it’s a territory of Ukraine and the citizens of Ukraine live on it, state must provide the inviolability of their property rights and also, by the way, their safety too. But here is the another question — how Ukraine will compensate all of this wastes to itself? People can’t wait for twenty-thirty years while Ukraine expose claims to Russia and indemnify damages” — explains the lawyer of charity fund “Pravo na zahyst” (Right for defending) Alena Vinohradova, why Ukraine, not Russia must compensate to people lost housing.

According to lawyers opinion the acceptance of this law will help to solve a lot of problems.

“The main argument against this bill is that it doesn’t envisage wastes from the state budget. The logic is simple: state can’t accept such bills in a situation of economic crisis and a war. But there is much more arguments for this law. Moreover 300 thousands of migrants is the increasing social tension, it is the strengthening of distrust to authority and country, it’s a doubts that Ukraine can guarantee the inviolability of property rights at all. Nobody won’t have a wish to start here business, create new enterprises if Ukraine doesn’t guarantee the inviolability of right of private property.  Such bills is the reputational signal about moving of Ukraine to international standards and carrying out taken international obligations” — says Alena Vinohradova.

 
The words of expert are affirmed by Nickolay.

“A lot of migrants of pro-Ukrainian views had to go back under the power of insurgents, because they weren’t payable for rental housing. They begin to treat to Ukraine bad, because of aggressive environ which blossoms there. How human can support Ukraine if there is the blockade and access system” — says Nickolay.

The entrepreneurs who leave their homes and business insist on the right of compensations.

“We are the entrepreneurs-migrants — we have been making business for 23 years, we payed taxes, contained army, law enforcement organs another top-brass structures, the huge apparatus of the state. But, in spite of this it didn’t provide the safety of our property and our lives. Of course, we have a right to pretend on the compensation” — tells the head of Union of the Entrepreneurs of Luhansk Sergei Davydov.
It’s time only for settlers for a while.

According to Alena Vinohradova’s opinion the existing legislation can’t provide the rights for the compensation.

“ Theoretically, migrants can get the compensation at this moment. But existing redress mechanisms do not work in a situation of when people mass removing around the country, losing passports and other documents proving their ownership of the property. That’s why, it is necessary to create the legal framework for the situation of internally displacing” — considers lawyer.
Also, Alena Vinohradova considers, that officials are afraid of sums, which will be wasted on the compensations. However, it’s the empty fears, according to her opinion.

“First of all, the payments will begin, when uncontrolled territories will be free. It’s caused of absence the possibility to come for evaluation of the damage on occupied grounds. Secondly, the development of the procedure of payments can take not only month or two, it can take a year, three or, maybe, five years.

For example, the Law on Compensation for Damage has been accepted in Serbia a few years ago, although the conflict has been going on for a long time. The process of indemnity can take a lot of time. People will have the contributions of various volume step by step. We have already so-called “grey zones”, a lot of settlements were released. The compensations can be realized, as soon as legislative framework will appear” — explains the lawyer.

“Since the bill #2167 provides the alteration in the law about IDPs, this concrete decision depends only to people, who have reference of migrant. But, we’re working with another initiatives, which will provide to people from freed territories the compensation ofthe damage” — says Alena Vinohradova.

The lawyer claims that together with bill there will be announced the mechanism of evaluation and payment of the scathe.
“It’s hard to talk which actions people must do to get the compensations, because the order of issuing of them will be accepted by Cabinet of Ministers. However, it’s understood that at the beginning the reference of migrant must be got. Therefore the act must be made. The commission will go on the place of damage and according to a size of demolition it will have the category. Next, the sums of compensations will be offered to people. For example, the country of Serbia proposed to suffers the state obligations, which is payable within fifteen years. First payment is in a volume of 10 thousands of EU lump sum. The compensable property can be immovable and movable. But world practice is going in another way. Only immovable can be compensate. It connects with possibility what was lost, damaged or destroyed” — tells Alena Vinohradova.

The migrants and entrepreneurs has the another opinion about mechanisms of compensations.

“We offered to Cabinet of Ministers the other scheme of payment for losing housing — tells the head of Union of the Entrepreneurs of Luhansk Sergei Davydov — Migrants must to write an applications about lost property and attach the copies of entitlement documents. After that the coefficient from middle price to build the housing should be developed. Of course, it depends from the place of living of migrant. After that the sum of money must be provided according to area of real estate that person had. However, it won’t be pay personally in cash, it will list through the bank to account of the organization which will build housing to the migrant. Such variant is more acceptable for the country, because money won’t become a cash. Except this, such practice can provide the development of market of building of a new housing It will create new jobs, will increase the volumes of trade the necessary production and will stimulate the economy to go out from crisis.

The West will help us?

Alena Vinohradova thinks that the bill will be successfully voted by Verkhovna Rada.
“We haven’t already felt any resistance from officials and politicians. All of people, with whom we talked, were ready for cooperation. The same organizations that wrote the bill about migrants worked with this initiative. They are “Pravo Na Zahyst”, “Krym-SOS”, “Vostok-SOS”, Ukrainian Helsinki Group and the MPs from different factions. The bill was registered only after the approval of NGO” — tells the lawyer.
The authors of bill in deputy corps consider that authority has the additional motives to make such a decision.
“The budget really can’t compensate the housing to all 1,5 million of migrants — considers the co-author of the project, MP Georgiy Logvinsky — But, attracting attention to the problem, we can enlist the support of other states and international funds, which can help us with payment with the compensations. It’s a pity, but only “YUKOS” works with schemes, which we are trying to achieve from the state. This company successfully arrests the actives of Russia abroad. We also can do the same in the international courts. We only need to show the damage which has Ukraine from the Russian aggression. We need to show that this problem is worrying Prime Minister and Cabinet of Ministers. It is one of the senses of this bill”.

Denis Matsola for informator.lg.ua