ReliefWeb

The 2015 Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment determined several priorities for strengthening the resilience of conflict-affected communities, especially displaced populations and their host communities. Alongside the rehabilitation of infrastructure and economic recovery, efforts would have to include the promotion of reconciliation and social cohesion and strengthening community security and access to justice. Accordingly, since 2015 community security and justice concerns have been included in public consultations on revising regional development strategies in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. Justice and human rights issues have also been documented diligently by a number of non-governmental and international organizations over the past three years. In 2016 UNDP rolled out its comprehensive programme for governance reform and recovery, with a geographic focus on conflict-affected areas. The new programme includes support to increasing community security and improving access to justice with the aim of ensuring that human rights protection and the rule of law are realized at community level.

Research shows that the majority of issues which cause people to feel insecure are not issues dealt with by law enforcement or the justice system. The Community Security approach applied by UNDP in many contexts around the world does not differentiate between different causes of insecurity, hence it allows us to respond to human security needs from the perspective of people at the local level. To effectively understand these needs, UNDP has been mapping and assessing needs in three regions of Ukraine.

In 2016 UNDP commissioned this assessment first of community security and justice in order to provide a detailed picture of citizens’ knowledge, attitudes and experiences with justice and security issues. Although other related surveys have been undertaken and a number of reports have become available, this Report seeks to delve much deeper and thereby to provide a clearer, more comprehensive picture of needs. Moreover, the geographic scope allows positioning the situation in directly conflict-affected areas within a comparative national context.

Thus, the survey sought to ask detailed questions within the framework of a representative, and statistically robust household survey which covers a broad range of interlinked issues including security, justice and administrative services. The survey has been designed to show any significant differences in attitudes based on: gender; age; geographical location (rural vs urban; proximity to contact line); and economic category.

The assessment focused on three oblasts in which UNDP is piloting a community based security and justice programme: Zhytomyr oblast, in Central/Western Ukraine, and government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

The assessment consisted of: i) a quantitative household survey; ii) a quantitative court user/observer survey; iii) qualitative interviews with justice actors; and iv) qualitative interviews with traditionally underrepresented groups.

The information in this report summarises the key findings of the assessment.

The report is intended to provide evidence for government, civil society and international partners to:
» identify priority areas where reform and recovery interventions are required;
» monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of reforms in the justice sector and service delivery; and
» advocate for policy and legislative Changes both at the national and the regional level.

The majority of issues which cause people to feel insecure are not issues dealt with by law enforcement or the justice system.

This report is divided into the following sections:
» Section 1 Introduction
» Section 2 Overview of demographics of the population surveyed
» Section 3 Key findings across oblasts
» Section 4 Summary of key findings separated by oblasts
» Appendix One detailed description of the research methodology
» Appendix Two detailed breakdown of demographic data by oblast

Practitioners and policy makers are encouraged to use the data to develop practical interventions that can be implemented locally and to measure the success of these interventions over-time.

The full detailed results of the survey for each oblast are available online at: www.bit.ly/UNDPRuleofLaw