Chapter 5. Observing rights and freedoms of persons who suffered temporary occupation and armed conflict To the Pension Fund of Ukraine – make financial and economic calculations of the expenditures 111 needed to provide pension payments to internally displaced persons for earlier periods and to citizens of Ukraine living in the temporarily occupied territories or in settlements on the ‘contact line’ To Luhansk and Donetsk Oblast Civil Military and Kherson State Oblast Administrations – ensure registration of reports of persons missing in special circumstances and information on their family members at all the checkpoints on the ‘contact line’/administrative border and provide necessary legal assistance to applicants in organizing the search for such persons. 5.2. Restitution42. Right to housing and compensation for property/material damage to civilians affected by armed conflict The lack of sufficient financial resources to implement the mechanisms to provide internally displaced persons with housing and to operate established funds and programmes may necessitate involving national and international donors, legal entities and individuals to finance housing programmes, and exploring coRestitution is the restoration of violated property rights, bringing them back to the state that existed at the time of the act that caused the damage, i.e., the return or restoration of tangible assets in kind (the same or similar, or assets of the same value). If they cannot be returned in kind, their monetary value is reimbursed. In international law, restitution is the return under a peace treaty of property wrongfully seized during a war by one state from the territory of another state. 42 In pursuance of the Strategy for the Integration of Internally Displaced Persons adopted in 2017 and the implementation of long-term decisions on internal displacement until 2020, in January 2018, the Government amended the Procedure for Establishing Housing Stock for Temporary Residence and the Procedure for Provision and Use of Housing from Housing Stock for Temporary Accomodation in terms of extending their effect to internally displaced persons. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted Resolutions 582 “On Approval of the Procedure for Formation of Housing Stock for Temporary Residence of Internally Displaced Persons and the Procedure for Providing Temporary Use of Housing from Housing Stock for Temporary Accomodation of Internally Displaced Persons” on 26 June 2018 and Resolution793 “On Amendments to Item 4 of the Procedure and Conditions for Submitting a Subsidy from the State Budget to Local Budgets for the Implementation of Measures to Support Territories Affected by the Armed Conflict in Eastern Ukraine” on 21 August 2019. 43 44 According to the Ministry of Veterans, the total amount of the subsidy for the procurement of temporary housing for internally displaced persons in 2017 was UAH 17 million (UAH 16.3 million was used). The subsidy was used to buy 72 apartments for 240 internally displaced persons. In 2018, the subsidy was UAH 34 million (UAH 27.3 million used), with 360 internally displaced persons provided with housing, and in 2019, UAH 34 million. Law of Ukraine 294-IX “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2020” of 14 November 2019 provides for expenditure from the general state budget fund to implement measures to support the territories affected by the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine to the amount of UAH 20 million. CHAPTER 5 The Commissioner monitored the legislation and case law on observance of the rights of Ukrainian citizens affected by the armed conflict to housing, and to restitution or compensation. For internally displaced persons, the right to housing is enshrined in Law 1706-VII, the implementation of which is guaranteed by allocations from the appropriate authorities to local self-government bodies and local state administrations. The current legal framework recommends that local self-government bodies (or, if not available, the relevant military-civil administrations), should provide funding to create housing stock for temporary residence of internally displaced persons from the relevant local budgets, taking into account the need for such housing and the need for increased capacity of these authorities to provide the internally displaced persons with housing for temporary residence and to facilitate access to administrative services for residents of settlements on the ‘contact line’ and in the temporary occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts43. This objective was achieved by reducing the amount of co-financing of relevant measures from local budgets from 50 to 30 per cent. While the Government tries to settle this issue, it is ensuring the creation of temporary housing stock by approving the Procedure and conditions for providing subsidies from the state budget to local budgets. The funding for such measures is critically low, however44.