International Charitable Organization Roma Women Fund Chiricli, Kiev, Ukraine. 30 November. Forum Minority Issues_ Agenda Item 2 -Socio-economic Empowerment On behalf of the Roma Women Fund Chiricli, I would like to draw the attention to the social situation of Roma in Ukraine in the time of war. Roma are recognized as a national minority in Ukraine, however multiple studies have shown Roma as a highly marginalized group in Ukraine. There were about 400 000 of Roma who were living in Ukraine before the start of the war with Russian Federation in February 2022. The data collected by the Roma NGOs suggests that around 100 000 Roma became displaced as a result of the war. Chiricli monitors the situation of displaced Roma in Ukraine. Our latest report, as of August 2023, was conducted in 4 regions of Ukraine: Transcarpathia, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro. The report suggests that 93% of the respondents face problems or are not able to receive temporary accommodation and thus, Roma IDPs can only effectively live in areas where they receive support from other Roma. In these target regions, Chiricli observed that Roma IDPs in Ukraine continue to experience problems in accessing state shelters or state centres for temporary accommodation. In Odessa region, for example, numerous Roma IDPs can only stay in local Roma communities where families face problems with electricity, water and heating in cold seasons. It was also reported by the Roma families that families feel forgotten by local village administrations which do not provide them social services in communities. Chiricli recommends the government of Ukraine, as well as relevant UN agencies, to address the needs of the Roma IDPs, as one of the most vulnerable groups in the Ukrainian society, by providing emergency assistance and protection in accessing state shelter or centres for temporary accommodation and support with the registration of the personal IDs. Besides, Chiricli recommends to government to provide Roma children access to secondary schools or access to online classes. Thank you for attention.