Restoring documents, rebuilding hope: how UNHCR legal aid helps displaced Ukrainians
Restoring documents, rebuilding hope: how UNHCR legal aid helps displaced Ukrainians
When the fighting reached their hometown of Sievierodonetsk in Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, Yevhen and his wife tried to hold on.
“We stayed almost two years in Luhansk with no electricity and no gas. I was hoping that we would be able to remain at home, but no. The situation got even worse,” Yevhen recalls.
For two years the couple was hoping that one day the war would end, and they could return to the lives they knew. But as the shelling intensified, they had no choice but to evacuate to Kremenchuk, in Poltava region, central Ukraine.
In the chaos of departure, Yevhen lost the most important papers he owned — the documents proving that the apartment in Sievierodonetsk belonged to him and his wife. Later, the couple learned their home had been damaged in a Russian attack. When Yevhen tried to apply for state compensation, his claim was rejected.
“I lost the documents of the ownership of my house. The office with the official registry, now in occupied territory, was burnt down, and the archives were not digitalized,” Yevhen explains.
Through UNHCR’s partner, Right to Protection (R2P), Yevhen received free legal aid to file a court claim recognizing his ownership rights — an essential step to one day access compensation for the damage to his home. As pensioners with very limited income, Yevhen and his wife also received cash assistance from UNHCR, and R2P helped secure an exemption from paying the costly court fees.
“It took a lot of time, it took six months, but with the help from R2P, we managed to get the documents in order. We still don’t know if we will have compensation or not for our damaged home,” Yevhen says.
“It is very expensive to pay the fees to the court, but R2P also helped us with that,” he adds.
Although the question about compensation is still pending, Yevhen now feels more hopeful knowing that his documents are in order.
This vital support was made possible thanks to contributions from donors, including Norway. Thanks to the funding from government and private donors, UNHCR and its partners are able to provide legal aid and other forms of protection to families like Yevhen’s, who have lost so much but still hold onto hope for justice and a safer future.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, UNHCR, together with its partners, has provided over 644,000 legal counselling sessions to people, helping them to restore lost or damaged documents and obtain proof of property ownership to facilitate their access to administrative and social services and benefits, including compensation for damaged and destroyed housing.
