Ministry of Social Policy develops IDP Strategy with section on return from abroad – Uliutin

The Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine has completed work on the Policy Strategy for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Minister Denys Uliutin reported.

"We at the ministry have completed writing the IDP Policy Strategy, and now, I think, we will submit it for interagency approval. In this strategy, we tried to describe the entire path (of IDPs) from evacuation to integration in communities. We added a section on the return of citizens from abroad. We did not create a separate return strategy, but made a large section in the IDP Strategy. Our vision is to try to avoid separation, to avoid pressure between IDPs and those who will return - this is very important," Uliutin said in an interview with the YouTube project Budget Talks.

According to him, a web resource for displaced persons called "One, Two, Three" is also being developed, which will outline all the steps IDPs take, a list of temporary accommodation sites and a section on reintegration (housing, employment).

As previously reported, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth told Interfax-Ukraine that the total number of people who remain internally displaced within the country is about 3.7 million. Some 71% of IDPs have been displaced for more than two years, and many have moved multiple times. The largest number are currently concentrated in Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Kyiv regions, as well as in the three largest cities - Kharkiv, Dnipro and Kyiv.