Humanitarian Aid Hub For Displaced Opens In Kyiv

A two storey building in Kyiv has got a new life today. Non-governmental organisations like Krym-SOS, Vostok-SOS, Free People Employment Centre, and New Donbas, that for more than a year work on problems of internally displaced persons, have finally joined their forces together under the same roof.

In the "House of Free People" hub one will be able to get legal consultations, humanitarian aid, find out about job opportunities, and find answers for questions that matter.

There are consultants on the first floor, and the Employment Centre on the second. Centre coordinators say they have registered 6,000 people, and helped to employ 2,000 of them. There's also a cultural centre in the building.

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre estimates that there are at least 1.4 million IDPs in Ukraine as of July 2015.
For the future The House of Free People plans expanding and coordination with local authorities.

Both Vostok-SOS and Krym-SOS were founded by human rights Euromaidan activists from Luhansk and Simferopol that had to escape their own homes. They've started from scratch and over one year have evolved into strong institutions providing shelter, legal assistance,  lobbying laws that concern internally displaced persons, co-ordinating volunteers in areas near the frontline. They're the first step for international organisations interested in helping out IDPs to work with in Ukraine.

// Video by Yuliia Stets and Kocc Kazymko. Filmed 08.18.2015.