The Danish Refugee Council will engage the UNBA to provide legal aid - a memorandum was signed

Within the framework of its own projects to assist refugees and internally displaced persons, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) will engage the specialists of the Ukrainian National Bar Association to provide legal aid to Ukrainian citizens.

The relevant memorandum of understanding was signed today, April 24, by Alix Françoise Marie Journou, the Representative of the Danish Refugee Council in Ukraine, and Lidiya Izovitova, the President of the UNBA, BCU.

According to the document, the cooperation will be carried out through the involvement of specialists, including UNBA representatives abroad, on the digital legal aid platform PravoVsim, to provide free legal aid to Ukrainian citizens who were forced to temporarily move as a result of armed aggression, became refugees or persons under special protection, and therefore need qualified legal assistance.

DRC is committed to the welfare and protection of the recipients of assistance. After all, the mandate of the international organization obliges it to provide assistance to the affected population. UNBA, in turn, undertakes to accept and share the humanitarian policy of the DRC.

The contact person for coordination of joint activities on the Ukrainian side is Oleksandr Chernykh, the UNBA representative in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Danish Refugee Council was founded in 1956. It assists refugees and internally displaced persons around the world by providing emergency assistance, defending their rights and expanding their prospects for a better future.

The activities of the DRC are based on the principles of humanity, respect, independence, neutrality, involvement, as well as honesty and transparency.

The organization has been working in Ukraine since 1998. From 2007 to 2013, DRC implemented a national program to protect the rights of IDPs and build the capacity of civil society and state authorities responsible for providing asylum. In 2014, the Board resumed its activities to support the humanitarian response in eastern Ukraine through emergency response and durable solutions aimed at protecting and empowering internally displaced persons and host communities, humanitarian demining and capacity development of state authorities.

Since February 2022, DRC has been contributing to the overall emergency response in Ukraine, developing and implementing strategies to respond to needs across Ukraine in the longer term, working in sectors such as social and legal protection, economic recovery, humanitarian disarmament and peacebuilding, capacity development and shelter.