In the Donetsk People’s Republic, great attention is paid to the support of vulnerable groups of the population, including disabled persons, who are entitled to pension under the DPR legislation.
Currently, there are 2695 people with visual impairment in the Republic, of which 1385 have visual impairment category 1 and 1310 have visual impairment category 2, for whom it is challenging to put a handwritten signature on various types of documents, and, in particular, on documents confirming the receipt of pensions. Due to their health issues, most people with disabilities are unable to properly testify the fact of receiving social payments.
In this regard, the DPR Human Rights Ombudsman clarifies that in accordance with the Guidelines on payment and delivery for pensions, social benefits by the national postal operator, approved by order of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Ukraine, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of Ukraine dated April 28, 2009 No. 464/156, as well as a decree of the Pension Fund of Ukraine dated April 28, 2009 (which is temporarily in force in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic), if a pension recipient cannot put their own hand-written signature in records confirming receipt of pension due to health issues, the said entity authorizes another person to sign the papers in his/her presence (however, except for employees of medical institutions, Pension Fund bodies, staff of labor and social protection bodies, and communication workers). At the same time, the column “Signature of the recipient” indicates “…signed on behalf of the recipient”, after which the relevant data of the person who put his/her signature in the paper (the name and initials, registration (residence), passport number series, or the number of other identity document).
In addition, the Notaries Act of the Donetsk People’s Republic dated December 21, 2018 No. 08-IINS provides for the right of notaries, consular officers and designated officials of local self-government bodies of the Donetsk People’s Republic to attest the identity of the visually impaired person’s hand-written signature with facsimile reproduction of his/her own signature (paragraph 21 of part 1 of article 43, paragraph 9 of part 2 of article 44, paragraph 12 of part 1 of article 45, article 94 of the aforementioned Law).
Thus, notaries of the Donetsk People’s Republic attest the identity of the handwritten signature of a visually impaired person with the facsimile reproduction of their handwritten signature in the event that this category of persons needs to carry out various legal operations.
It should be noted that the system of state-guaranteed support for visually impaired people, which facilitates for overcoming, substitution (compensating) restrictions related to health condition, provides for the possibility of receiving pensions, other social payments, as well as various legal operations. Meanwhile, the mechanism that allows for exercising of the rights and freedoms of this category of citizens includes additional safety measures aimed at avoiding the possibility of abuse of their rights and freedoms by other persons due to their health condition.
