More than 517,000 internally displaced persons are registered in Kharkiv Oblast: Deputy Director of the Department of Social Protection of the Population of Kharkiv Regional Military Administration T. Pechura

On September, 13 in the Kharkiv Media Hub, a briefing was held by the first deputy director of the Department of Social Protection of the Population of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Tetyana Pechura. The topic of discussion was ensuring social protection of internally displaced persons in the Kharkiv region.

According to the speaker, to date, more than 517,000 internally displaced persons have been registered in the Kharkiv region, who applied to the social protection authorities for IDP status after February 24 last year.

– In the region, effective support and assistance in overcoming the challenges caused by the war is provided for internally displaced persons who lost their homes due to the war or were forced to leave their homes and relocate from places where hostilities are ongoing or from temporarily occupied territories, – the deputy’s head noted Department of social protection of the population of Kharkiv Regional Military Administration.

Tetyana Pechura noted that as of September 1, 2023, the total amount of housing assistance received by forced migrants is 7 million hryvnias.

The speaker noted that the payment of benefits has been extended for all IDPs living in Ukraine. The amount of assistance for children and persons with disabilities is 3,300 hryvnias and for other categories – 2,200 hryvnias per month.

– On August 18, at a meeting of the Coordination Staff on Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons in the Kharkiv Region, a decision was made to accelerate the processing of information by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine on the verification of data on IDPs. As a result, social security administrations stopped paying 8,384,000 people for various reasons, Pechura said.

The briefing also discussed cases in which financial assistance from the state for IDPs is terminated. Also, the deputy director of the Department of Social Protection noted that an internally displaced person can appeal the decision of the social protection authorities by providing documents confirming their status. In addition, the speaker explained how this assistance will be assigned to persons who will apply to social security offices for the first time after November 1, 2023.

– I would like to draw your attention to the fact that under the new order, it is possible to receive assistance to internally displaced persons who had children after displacement, – noted the deputy director of the Department of Social Protection.

According to Tetyana Pechura, on the instructions of the Head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, Oleh Syniehubov, and with the assistance of UNICEF, Centers of Vitality will appear in six communities of the region, the main task of which will be to provide IDPs with psycho-social assistance.

– We continue to hope to spread the project to the entire region because every internally displaced person needs psycho-social assistance. It should be of high quality and useful. We are doing everything possible to help our citizens survive the difficult times of russian aggression.

Also during the event, the issue of housing for IDPs was discussed, in particular under the “Shelter” program; assistance to forced migrants in finding employment and improving their qualifications. Tetyana Pechura also spoke about the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration project of the comprehensive Program for the support of internally displaced persons for the period 2023-2027 and the Program for making up for educational losses.

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