Specific challenges and barriers for valnurable groups

This is the second version of the Roadmap, updated based on discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, which resulted in the refinement of key recommendations.

Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine, ongoing since 2014, has resulted in a significant displacement of people seeking safety within Ukraine. According to the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons”, adopted in 2014, an internally displaced person (hereinafter referred to as IDP) is a citizen of Ukraine, a foreigner or a stateless person who is legally present on the territory of Ukraine and has the right to permanent residence in Ukraine and who has been forced to leave or abandon their place of residence as a result of or in order to avoid the negative consequences of armed conflict, temporary occupation, widespread violence, human rights violations, and natural or man-made emergencies. 

This document is intended to draw the attention of our partners and stakeholders to the primary tasks and priority steps for the preparation of postwar elections. Civil Network OPORA has prepared its own expert vision of electoral process, which takes into account the results of previous professional discussions with official parties (Verkhovna Rada, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Central Election Commission). OPORA calls on the Parliament to hold substantive discussions in order to find systemic solutions, given the need to lay a critical amount of groundwork for the organization of postwar elections before the repeal of martial law. The success of preparation of legislative framework, prevention of Russian interference in the postwar elections, and integration into the European Union directly depend on a depoliticized high-quality discussion.

Russian military aggression against Ukraine, which has been ongoing since 2014, has led to an increase in the number of people with disabilities among both civilians and the military. According to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the number of persons with disabilities increased by 300,000 over the two years of full-scale war and amounted to more than 3 million in June 2024. It should be understood that this number will only grow over time. As a result, Ukraine faces new challenges that have emerged in the area of political participation of the disabled. To identify these problems and find ways of solving them, Civil Network OPORA conducted more than 20 in-depth interviews with leading experts in the field of elections and inclusiveness, and commissioned a sociological survey which was carried out by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. 

In February 2023, the head of the Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said that the Russian Federation is conducting a large-scale disinformation operation called “Maidan-3”. According to GUR, the Kremlin is trying to weaken the AFU on the frontline by discrediting the Ukrainian authorities: it is alleged that illegitimate president and parliament of Ukraine are adopting illegitimate decisions. Indeed, Ukrainians were supposed to re-elect the bodies of state power in the fall of 2023 and spring of 2024, but this did not happen due to statutory ban on holding elections under martial law. Moreover, it is impossible to ensure full exercise of citizens’ right to elect and be elected under conditions of active hostilities and regular missile attacks. Nevertheless, the Kremlin is persistently trying to shake the confidence of Ukrainian citizens and international partners in the governmental authorities of Ukraine.

On October 22, 2024, Civil network OPORA held the second civic summit “(Dis)connected: rethinking social resilience in Ukraine”. The summit based itself on the results of joint research study on polarization of Ukrainian society, which was carried out by OPORA in cooperation with Kyiv School of Economics.

Findings of the study by the Civil Network OPORA and the Kyiv School of Economics, conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.

The study aimed to determine the degree of affective polarization in Ukrainian society. Unlike ideological polarization, which arises from differences in political or ideological positions, affective polarization describes the growth of social and emotional distance from other groups. It explains why cohesion and benevolence between different groups and individuals decrease. As part of the study, we assumed that Ukrainian society is divided into a certain number of groups according to their experience gained after the outbreak of a full-scale invasion.