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Abstract
This essay explores the citizenship experiences of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine. Since 2014, conflict in eastern Ukraine has forced over 1.7 million people to leave their homes. Unlike refugees, who are protected by international law, IDPs rely primarily on state support. Based on ethnographic research and analysis of secondary sources, the essay focuses on IDPs’ interactions with the state to highlight how displacement affects the provision of social guarantees. The discussion questions the distinctions between categories of migrants and citizens by offering insights into new modalities of controlled citizenship that displaced people live through.
Notes
1 Interview with Savik, 73, IDP, Volnovakha, Donetsk region, 21 March 2018.
2 Refugees are protected under the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (UNHCR Citation2011), which is a legally binding multilateral treaty. Internal displacement is regulated by the national legislation (if any), while the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (UNHCR Citation1998) is only advisory and recommendatory.
3 The research project ‘Things That Matter: Humanitarian Aid and Citizenship Among Internally Displaced People in Ukraine’ is supported by the US National Science Foundation (Award #1729158), the Wenner-Gren Foundation and a Bucerius fieldwork grant.
4 To protect the anonymity of the IDP respondents, I have used pseudonyms throughout the essay.
5 See also Nyers (Citation2009).
6 Recognising the hybrid nature of confrontations in eastern Ukraine, I chose to refer to the events as the ‘conflict’, following the terminology of major international organisations, including the UN. I nevertheless admit that the naming is problematic and does not capture the full range of factors that contribute to the continuation of hostilities.
7 As of February 2019, the UN estimated the total number of conflict-related casualties to be 43,000. Deaths caused by the conflict numbered around 13,000, of which one quarter were civilians (OHCHR Citation2019).
8 ‘The Number of Registered IDPs Decreased in 2017’, Foundation 101 NGO, 2017, available at: https://www.foundation101.org/en/news/20170301, accessed 1 June 2019.
9 Personal interview with an anonymous UN diplomat in Kyiv, 13 October 2017. See also van Matre et al. (Citation2017, p. 5).
10 Decree 505, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 1 October 2014, available at: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/505-2014-%D0%BF, accessed 28 October 2019.
11 In 2014, the targeted assistance was UAH884 for unemployed person (US$33), UAH442 for a working person (US$16) and UAH1,544 (US$58) for people with disabilities. In 2017, the payment for an unemployed person increased to UAH1000 (US$38), limited to UAH3000 (US$115) per family.
12 Data from the online rent portal Domik.ua as of January 2018, available at: http://domik.ua/novosti/skolko-stoit-arenda-kvartir-v-xarkove-v-yanvare-2018-goda-n254790.html, accessed 31 October 2019.
13 Decree 15-рп/2001, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 14 November 2001, available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20160306111827/http://www.ccu.gov.ua/uk/doccatalog/list?currDir=9404, accessed 28 October 2019.
14 Resolution No. 1085-p, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 7 November 2014.
15 ‘Global Protection Cluster Advocacy Priorities 2017–2018’, Global Protection Cluster, available at: http://www.globalprotectioncluster.org/_assets/files/annex-i-protection-cluster-advocacy-priorities_2018-update.pdf, accessed 20 October 2019.
16 Resolution No. 637, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 5 November 2014, available at: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/637-2014-%D0%BF, accessed 28 October 2019.
17 Resolution No. 509, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 1 October 2014, available at: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/509-2014-%D0%BF, accessed 28 October 2019.
18 Resolution No. 365, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 8 June 2016, available at: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/rada/show/365-2016-%D0%BF, accessed 28 October 2019.
19 ‘Cabinet of Ministers Renewed Pension Payments to 90 thousand of IDPs’, Ukrainska Pravda, 2 June 2016, available at: https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/06/2/7110473, accessed 15 March 2018.
20 ‘Global Protection Cluster Advocacy Priorities 2017–2018’, Global Protection Cluster, available at: http://www.globalprotectioncluster.org/_assets/files/annex-i-protection-cluster-advocacy-priorities_2018-update.pdf, accessed 20 October 2019.
21 Constitution of Ukraine, Chapter II, Article 46 and the Law of Ukraine ‘On pension provision’, with subsequent amendments, available at: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1788-12, accessed 28 October 2019.
22 Resolution No. 365, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 8 June 2016, available at: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/rada/show/365-2016-%D0%BF, accessed 28 October 2019.
23 See also Ivashchenko-Stadnik (Citation2017).
24 Interview with Vlad, 53, IDP, Kyiv, 20 November 2017.
25 Interview with Nikita, 59, IDP, Kyiv, 18 March 2017.
26 Interview with Oksana, Vsi Svoi volunteer, Kyiv, 18 June 2018.
27 Interview with Olga, 38, IDP, Kotsubynske, Kyiv region, 13 April 2017.
28 Interview with Vika, 55, IDP, Kyiv, 20 July 2016.
29 Interview with Olena, 45, IDP, Kharkiv, 8 August 2018.
30 Interview with Savik, 73, IDP, Volnovakha, Donetsk region, March 2018.
31 Interview with Lesia, volunteer, Kyiv, 18 February 2017.
32 ‘Expensive’ is defined as a single purchase that exceeds ten minimum living wages (UAH15,440; US$580). Author’s field notes, May 2017.
33 Interview with Irina, 43, IDP, Rivne1, 4 July 2017.
34 Interview with Maria, 48, IDP, Zaporizhzhia, 25 June 2018.
35 Interview with Kolia, 49, IDP, Brovary, Kyiv region, 12 March 2017.
36 See also Ong (Citation2005).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Tania Bulakh
Tania Bulakh, PhD Candidate in Socio-Cultural Anthropology, Indiana University Bloomington, 701 E Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. Email: [email protected]