Maidan to be cleaned up
Can the city solve the problem of street people?
About 10 years ago I was very surprised by what a friend of mine told me about the United States: there are a lot of street people, who behave aggressively, and if a smelly tramp sits down next to you in the subway, you cannot move to another seat because there will be a big scandal or even a lawsuit.
Naturally, Ukraine has not achieved this level of democracy, but the numbers of homeless people seem to be increasing every year. Up to 14,000 were recorded in 2004, although these people are not exactly rushing to make themselves known to the authorities. The authorities in turn have now decided to clamp down on them, at least in downtown Kyiv.
The Kyiv City Administration’s press service announced a few days ago that it intends to clear Independence Square (Maidan) of homeless people and junkies. Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky instructed acting Deputy Mayor Ivan Saliy, director of the Kyivavtodor public utilities corporation Volodymyr Zhukov, and chief of the Main Transport Directorate Ivan Shpyliovy to carry out a three-day study of the problem of large groups of tramps and drug addicts on the Maidan and other city streets. After studying the problem, the officials will submit proposals to Chernovetsky.
It is obvious why people of no fixed abode prefer to gather in large groups on the Maidan. It is warm and bright. There are a lot of people to cadge money from and tons of empty bottles to be exchanged for money. It is a far more difficult question how to clear these people from the Maidan. The only answer seems to be that there is no solution.
According to the European Convention on Human Rights ratified by Ukraine, all individuals have the right of free movement. Therefore, they have the right to sit on the Maidan, smell offensively, and beg passersby for money. There were many ways to deal with hobos before the convention was ratified. The police could deport them from the city or even jail them for vagrancy and breach of the peace because of their appearance.
But today’s Ukraine, a civilized European state, has no right to resort to such measures. All we can do is create decent facilities for these people, i.e., refuges with meals, comfortable beds, and hot showers. Last winter Ukraine finally opened a few refuges — after about 1,000 people froze to death on the street. But now it is warm outside, and these people, who are free of all conventions, do not want to sit around in special buildings.
“Every evening fewer people arrive,” says Mykola Pikovy, director of the Social Care Building. “We have about 30 places. In the winter all the beds were taken. We did our best to take these people off the streets, but, as you can see, they don’t want to come. Of course, a law can be passed enabling the police to chase them from the Maidan, but this is a violation of human rights. If we deport them, they will come back again.”
So the only civilized way to solve the city’s homeless problem has yielded almost no results. In any case, refuges are unable to accommodate 14,000 people. I understand Kyivites, who do not like riding on the subway or buses next to unkempt and totally asocial people, who are up to God knows what. If, say, a referendum were held on this issue, Kyivites would undoubtedly vote for a crackdown and deportation. But freedom is freedom — with all its positive aspects and inconveniences.
