Just one appeal to the paralegal and no bureaucracy

Publication date: August 7, 2023

Thanks to the help of the paralegal of the NGO “Ukrainian Paralegal Association”, the displaced woman, who lives in the Chernivtsi oblast, was able to avoid bureaucratic red tape. The woman did not have to reissue the IDP certificate, as the employee of the city council demanded.

Daryna* turned to paralegal Nataliia Horvasiuk with a question about the documents confirming her status as an internally displaced person. The woman asked how appropriate it is for her to reissue the IDP certificate to a new address if the name of the street where she lives has changed.

Daryna had a question for a reason: she was asked by an employee of the city council, who accepts documents for registration of compensation for utility services to the owners of houses where IDPs live. Daryna with her children rents an apartment from a local resident.

Such a change, as the woman herself noted, would entail a whole series of problems: certificates in the educational institutions where her children study (in order to receive IDP payments), documents in medical institutions, etc., would also have to be changed.

• Regarding this issue, we consulted with colleagues in the chat of Regional Coordinators**. As a result, I provided Daryna with a copy of the city council’s decision to change street names in December 2022, which was publicly available on the city council’s website. The displaced woman conveyed this decision to the owner of the house, who goes to the city council every month to draw up the relevant documents for compensation for communal services, – explains Nataliia Horvasiuk.

So, Daryna’s issue was resolved: the woman avoided bureaucratic red tape, and saved energy and time, since she did not have to redo the IDP documents due to the change of street name. 

*Name has been changed for ethical reasons.

**The material was created with the support of the international charity platform GlobalGiving and the Legal Empowerment Fund (Fund for Global Human Rights program) and the Legal Development Network. The content of the publication is solely the responsibility of the Legal Development Network and does not necessarily reflect the views of the previously mentioned organizations.

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