Next year’s Budget must allocate funds to protect victims of war – Olha Skrypnyk

Legislative initiatives and laws, which are already in place to protect victims of war, require immediate funding from the Budget. Therefore, when considering next year’s Budget, it is very important that the Verkhovna Rada take into account all those expenses that are actually relevant for the current situation. In addition, it is necessary for the work of the parliament to be more open to civil society, in particular in matters related to victims of the war.

Olha Skrypnyk, Head of the Crimean Human Rights Group, made this statement at the country’s main discussion platform BrainHub in Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

“For example, now we are working to protect political prisoners as well as civilian hostages in general, taking into account all, including the newly occupied territories. And, for example, this category of people has the right to state aid payments, which is provided after the confirmation of the deprivation of liberty. Unfortunately, today there are not enough funds, and it is necessary to allocate the amount of budget funds that actually corresponds to the current number of people. Unfortunately, their numbers have increased manifold since 2022. It concerns both civilian hostages and prisoners of war. This is just an example of one of the categories of people who need funding from the state budget. And that’s why we pay attention to that too,” she explained.

Olha Skrypnyk pointed out that the parliament is an important platform for civil society in terms of discussions and searching for mechanisms to protect people.

“We understand that some of the restrictions are actually unbiased, they are caused by security issues. We share certain limitations, but at the same time we know that full-scale aggression has been going on for almost two years now, and we understand that in these conditions there is already an opportunity to male the parliament’s work more open. That is why our coalition also appeals for the work of the parliament to be more open to civil society, precisely so that it could be possible to convey all these problems, show exactly how they can be solved and together find the mechanism that will help,” she noted.

In particular, she said that it is absolutely possible, for example, to bring back the agenda of committee meetings so that it could be clear which draft laws are to be considered. In addition, Olha Skrypnyk emphasized the need to provide the opportunity for online participation of public representatives in committee meetings on those issues that primarily concern victims of war.

“Yes, we understand that there may be exceptions, certainly there may be draft laws that affect national security, defense, etc., they may remain closed. But many issues in the registered draft laws relate to the humanitarian sphere and require a very broad discussion, which needs the involvement of NGOs, expert organizations, and the people themselves, who in fact become the target of such legislative initiatives,” she added.

BrainHub is the country’s main discussion platform created by Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform. It brings together experts from the state and civil society sectors. BrainHub hosts intellectual discussions around the issues of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. It’s the birthplace of the best ideas that will become the foundation for the road map of Ukraine’s reconstruction in all sectors: economy, infrastructure, education, agriculture, security, digital, etc.

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news