Living Near the Border: The Cases of Shehyni and Uhryniv Communities POLSKA UKRAINE POLSKA PSG W MEDYCE BORDER SERVICE UKRAINE 09 POLSKA UKRAINE F.H.U. POLSKA "GRANICA" DUTY KANTOR- FREE CHECKPOINT UBEZPIECZENIA SHEHYNI UKRAINE POLSKA UKRAINE POLSKA SHOP UKRAINE POLSKA UKRAINE 09 The International Renaissance Foundation is one of the largest charitable foundations in Ukraine. Since 1990 we have been helping to develop an open society in Ukraine based on democratic values. The Foundation has supported about 20,000 projects worth more than $200 million. The IRF is part of the Open Society Foundations network established by investor and philanthropist George Soros. Site: www.irf.ua Facebook: www.fb.com/irf.ukraine Content 01 Content 02 Introduction 04 What We Did in Lviv Region And Structure of This Research 06 Part 1. What’s Life Like Near the Border? 07 E€onomic cur$e or Potential? 10 Soft Power 11 Border Infrastructure Affects Communities 14 Tourism And Culture 15 Cross-Border Cooperation 16 P2P Contacts and (No) Ethnic Text and analysis: Tensions Ruslan Minich, 17 Stop | Visa Europe without Barriers 18 Part 2. 01 While Crossing Borderline: Research team: Facts and Perception Iryna Sushko, 19 Travellers Ruslan Minich, 21 Not Just About Queues Kateryna Kulchytska, 30 Walking the Border Pavlo Kravchuk, 30 Tourist BCP Europe without Barriers 31 Perception Of Discrimination 32 Part 3. The material was prepared with Bigger Picture: Policy the support of the International And Institutions Renaissance Foundation 33 Like in the EU within the framework of the 34 Where Polish Money Is project "Building safe and 36 Lifting the Burden humane borders through 37 Anti-Corruption the public assessment of the 38 Pilots Polish-Ukrainian border". The 40 Democratic Participation material reflects the position of the authors and does not 42 Key Points and Lessons necessarily coincide with the position of the International 44 To Be Continued… Renaissance Foundation. 45 Figures, Maps, and Pictures Introduction Almost 22 million Ukrainians and to earn some money in Poland or foreigners crossed the border with even farther away. The border is Poland in 2018. Is that a lot? Well, an indispensable part of their dai- it’s one third of all the people who ly lives. They see many problems travelled to EU countries by land deeper, know the solutions, though (36.8 m) and one fifth of all cross- often they are also a part of these ings in total (100.6 m persons)1. problems. The pressure on this section of the The central authorities are very border is still the biggest. focused on border security as well as The border throughput capacity Ukraine-EU cooperation. At the same seems to be lower than the flows time, what is lacking is the right of travellers. As a result, you have balance with easy and comfortable to wait a few hours to cross it. At crossing by law-abiding travellers some BCPs, there are no toilets, and traders. This is the focus of the filling stations, cafes to grab some EU’s integrated border management food. Can it get worse? Well, in concept currently being introduced in fact, it can. When you wait hours Ukraine. This would have a profound in line, and then someone skips impact on local communities who the queue by paying a bribe. It’s would be a major beneficiary of such hot in summer and cold in win- an approach. This has the potential ter. Things are stretched too thin. to enhance cross-border cooperation People start to argue and tensions and people-to-people contact; boost 02 start to rise. local development and tourism. The This kind of border is actually borderlands have untouched natural dividing societies, instead of join- and architectural wonders. In this ing them in line with the concept of way, such a safe border with a hu- an open society and free move- man face would truly contribute to ment of people. This land border the idea of an open society where scares the public. Many change people move freely without artificial- their car or bike for a plane or ly-created obstacles. train. This kind of border discredits Bearing in mind the complexity the authorities and the state in the of border-related problems and the eyes of both its citizens and foreign big influence of the border on local guests, thereby playing into the communities, we (Europe Without hands of populists. Barriers (EWB) think tank) decided The issues listed are the most vis- to go there ourselves and see the ible for travellers, and they are of- situation on the ground. This study ten in light of various studies of the aims to see a bigger and more com- Ukrainian-Polish border. This is not prehensive picture, the potential all, though. At least a quarter of and problems of the Ukrainian-Pol- people crossing the Ukrainian-Pol- ish border as the most crowded ish border live right next to it2. They one. Local communities are the key may cross a few times a day or a to this as the major users and ben- week. The reasons are usually eco- eficiaries. We explore how people nomic: to buy or sell something, or see the Ukrainian-Polish border and how the border affects their every- ed BCP for cars, lorries, buses, and day lives. individuals. While the Uhryniv com- Here we focus on two of them. munity is small, and just a few hun- The Shehyni community is right dred meters away from a brand new next to the oldest and most crowd- BCP with joint control. Enjoy! Photo by Europe Without Barriers. 1 “Results of Operational Actions of the State Border Guards Service of Ukraine and Its Performance: 2018 Infograph- ics,” State Border Guards Service of Ukraine, https://dpsu.gov.ua/ua/photo-infografika-rezultati-operativno-sluzh- bovoi-diyalnosti-za-2018-rik-/ 2 Polish Border Guard, statistics, January-December 2018,, https://www.strazgraniczna.pl/pl/granica/statysty- ki-sg/2206,Statystyki-SG.html What We Did in Lviv Region And Structure of This Research In spring we conducted two tured interviews with three groups field trips to Lviv region within the of people: (1) representatives of lo- framework of the Building Safe cal self-governments and the cen- and Human Borders Through tral authorities, (2) civil society Public Assessment of the Pol- representatives, e.g., local lead- ish-Ukrainian Border project im- ers, media professionals, business plemented in cooperation with the representatives; (3) people whose Stefan Batory Foundation (Poland) lifestyle envisages crossing the bor- and funded by the International der. The research is focused on two Renaissance Foundation. BCPs: Shehyni-Medyka as the big- This study is inspired and sup- gest Western BCP in Ukraine that ported by the Open Society Foun- you can cross by train, car, bus, and dation’s Initiative for Safe and Hu- by foot, as well as Uhryniv-Dołhoby- mane Borders aimed at moving czów as a new BCP with joint con- selected borders and borderlands trol. We interviewed people living in from a state of violence, uncertain- these communities as well as rep- ty, privation and marginalization to- resentatives from the neighbouring wards greater safety, predictability, communities of Sokal and Mostys- prosperity, and inclusion. ka. Uhryniv belongs to Sokal district We conducted in-depth semi-struc- while Shehyni belongs to Mostyska 04 Uhryniv Sokal district Lviv Shehyni Mostyska district Map 1. Sokal and Mostyska districts, Lviv region district. At the same time, we talked local communities. to residents of Lviv that represent Although we take into con- the relevant authorities and civ- sideration the whole border- il society. This approach allows us line with Poland when relevant, to take into account the perception the main focus is the Uhryniv held by all affected stakeholders. and Shehyni borderland com- In the first part of this research munities. As a result, our ob- we look at the effects of the border servations in the main relate on people’s lifestyles and view of the to them. We do not aim to ex- world. In the second part, we see the trapolate them on all border- perception and realities of crossing lands. The study is qualitative. At the border via two BCPs. Constant- the same time, we plan to contin- ly moving back and forth between ue this research. And the second Ukraine and Poland, local residents part, to be published later, will en- feel the impact of infrastructure on able confirmation or rejection of their lives. The last part is devoted our hypotheses. Moreover, we will to Ukrainian border management test them on the whole line of the policy and relations with Poland, Ukrainian-Polish border, not only since decisions taken in central of- on the two communities that are fices could not but have an effect on in focus here. 05 Part 1. What’s Life Like Near the Border? 06 Locals view the border pragmat- ically. They see economic potential in the border. They can get regular work in Poland, do their shopping there, sell cigarettes and alcohol. Even various cultural initiatives and attempts to boost tourism have eco- nomic motivation behind them. The border provides people with oppor- tunities and, at the same time, cre- ates problems. E€onomic Сur$e or Potential? There is no straightforward an- from 2018 to deal with this kind of swer on how the border vicinity “business”. It introduced a lower influences local communities. One daily limit of EUR 50 for the trans- phenomenon that results is local fer of goods. Shuttle traders can shuttle traders. The majority of bring more items worth up to EUR people whom we interviewed men- 500 only if they have stayed abroad tion them.