ReliefWeb

PROTECTION CONCERNS

• Security situation: In November 2017, OHCHR recorded 25 conflict-related civilian casualties: 5 people killed and 20 injured. 68% of all civilian casualties are mine-related.

• Mine Action: On November 5, one child was reportedly killed and two more injured due to an unexploded ordinance detonation at a school in Staromykhailivka (Donetsk region, NGCA).
  On November 16, pupils were evacuated from a school in Kremenivka (Donetsk region, GCA), as an unexploded ordinance was found in the school yard.

• Freedom of movement: According to Protection Cluster partner monitoring, the main road has been blocked by military in the village of Novohryhorivka (Donetsk region, GCA), so that civilians must use an unpaved path and cross a river, which only has a small, basic bridge.

• House, Land & Property: According to Protection Cluster partner monitoring, 20 houses in Verkhnyotoretske (Donetsk region, GCA) have been occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2015. As a result, 15 families who cannot return to their property are forced to rent houses in the same town.

HRMMU reported an imminent risk of eviction of IDPs from a collective centre in Korostyshiv (Zhytomyr Region). The electricity had been cut, leaving 188 people, including 88 children and many persons with disabilities, without power, water and heating.

• Access to social benefits and pensions: In multiple locations, queues of IDP pensioners trying to restore pensions after 6 months of suspension remain very long. For example, in Pokrovsk, IDPs register in queues 2 weeks before the scheduled appointment and in Mariupol IDP pensioners have to wait 3 weeks for an appointment.

• Access to essential services: On November 3-5, the Donetsk Filter Station, which supplies water to 345,000 people on both sides of the contact line, was shelled at least three times. As a result, the back-up chlorine pipeline of the station was damaged by the shrapnel. This is alarming, as damage to the main pipe would cause leakage of poisonous chlorine gas into the environment.

On November 21, due to weather conditions, some 2,600 households in 21 locations of Luhanska region (GCA) were left without electricity. Moreover, on 23 November, an additional 21,000 households in 63 settlements were left without electricity. According to the Luhansk Energy Association, due to lack of financial resources, it would take days to restore the damaged infrastructure.

Settlements of Yasynuvatsky rayon and Avdiivka (Donetsk region, GCA) remain without centralized gas as the pipe supplying gas from NGCA was damaged in summer 2017. Regional authorities allocated funds for construction of the new line supplying gas from GCA. The repair works are still ongoing.

• Social cohesion: According to IOM's National Monitoring Survey, as of September 2017, 15 % of IDPs stated that they experienced discrimination (compared to 10% in June 2017). Perceptions of discrimination noted by IDPs concerned housing (65%), employment (28%), and healthcare (26%).