The volunteer movement needs legal aid

The volunteer movement, a unique phenomenon in the Ukrainian civil sector that emerged during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now requires legal aid. Increasingly, there is information that various regulatory bodies have begun to target volunteers who, for objective reasons, have been providing assistance to both military and civilians from the early days of the war, always mindful of compliance with all regulatory requirements for such activities. However, regulatory bodies can be relentless when it comes to ordinary citizens without appropriate connections.

On September 21, 2023, representatives of the Volunteer Council at the State Administration of Dniprovskyi District in Kyiv discussed this issue at their meeting. This Volunteer Council gathered active representatives of the civil sector from one district of the capital city who regularly provide assistance to soldiers at the front lines, raise funds to purchase drones for the military, organize charity fairs, take care of socially vulnerable segments of the population and internally displaced persons, provide hot meals to economically disadvantaged Kyiv residents, prepare dry rations for soldiers on the front lines, and do many other useful and necessary things that authorities at various levels are unable to accomplish, especially given that no relevant legislative acts have been adopted during the two years of full-scale war.

«This time it was dedicated to a very important issue: the protection of the rights of volunteers and volunteer organizations. When there is a war and the front line requires volunteer support in armament as well as humanitarian aid such as medication, food, and so on, volunteers use any means to acquire and deliver everything necessary to our soldiers. However, due to lack of knowledge, time constraints, or other reasons, they may inadvertently violate existing legislation. Especially when, in the early days of the large-cale invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine, the enforcement of certain regulatory acts was suspended by the state and then reinstated. There will come a time when state regulatory bodies will take an interest in the work of both individual volunteers and volunteer organizations. By the way, two volunteer organizations, whose representatives are members of the District Volunteer Council, have already encountered inspectors from the Department of Beautification», – noted Anatoliy Pavlenko, Deputy Chair of the Volunteer Council, during his speech at the Volunteer Council meeting at the State Administration of Dniprovskyi District in Kyiv.

The regulatory bodies have returned to their usual tasks, but the war in the country is not over yet, and the military’s need for replenishing so-called consumables has not diminished — from vehicles to certain types of weaponry. And today, no one but the volunteer movement is capable of meeting these needs.

First Kyiv Forum of Volunteers “Unite for Victory”

The situation at the front

«Diplomat», also known as Dmitry Andryushenko, an Azov Battalion member, emphasized this point during his speech at the 10th «Forum of Good Deeds», which took place on September 15, 2023, at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

«Why is it necessary to help the army? Because the war continues, and also because we need to understand that, unfortunately, we are a country that lives on subsidies, donations, and international funds. And, unfortunately, our economy, due to the destruction of many of our enterprises, cannot sustain this war independently. At the same time, we know how many billions of hryvnias, and perhaps even dollars, are allocated to the army. But even that is not enough at the moment. Of course, the state should finance its army, but since we cannot economically sustain this war, the military needs assistance», – noted Dmitry Andryushenko.

The soldier also emphasized that vehicles, drones, and even some types of weapons are consumable materials that are lost on the front lines every day, every hour, and require constant replenishment. And it needs to be understood that the state lacks the resources for constant replenishment of these needs to the necessary extent, so without support from the rear, without donations, it is impossible to win this war.

Volunteer human rights platform

To ensure that volunteers are not left alone to deal with government controllers, law enforcement, and judicial authorities, the deputy head of the Volunteer Council at the State
Administration of Dnipro District in Kyiv, Anatoliy Pavlenko, raised the issue of creating a volunteer legal defense platform.

«The form of such legal aid can vary. It could be in the form of an informal association of legal institutions providing legal consultations, attorney services, consulting, and so on. Or it could be a civil society association or organization providing these services comprehensively, or in another format. Clearly, the Volunteer Council cannot resolve this issue on its own, but as a platform for discussing this problem, in my deep conviction, there is no better place to do so. Since two out of the four founders of the new civil society
association – the Public Association “Kyiv Volunteer Forum” – are members of the Volunteer Council, the volunteer assembly approached them with a proposal to consider the possibility of creating a platform based on the Association to provide volunteers and volunteer organizations with the necessary services related to the protection of their rights and interests», – Pavlenko noted.

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