Constitutional rights of pensioners in Donbass violated – UN

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On the umpteenth time, international organisations’ representatives expressed dissatisfaction and disagreement with the current system of paying benefits for the elderly.

In very strong terms Hugues Bissot, UNHCR Senior Protection Officer commented on the situation with the pension payments in an interview to Gromadske.

“I heard the expression “pension tourism.” For me it’s nonsense. People have worked all their life, and they have a right to pension. We believe, It’s important to make the right to pension independent from the need to receive some kind of certificate or special status,” said the Officer. “The combination of these concepts leads to discrimination, violation of the Constitution of Ukraine and generally accepted humanitarian principles.”

Volunteers often say that now only officially registered displaced persons who have endured all the red tape have the right to pension. They calculated how many human rights such a requirement violates. It turned out to be about 5 violations, including the right to freedom of movement.

However, for more than a year, human rights defenders, even supported by international organizations, cannot in any way influence the absurd decision of the state.

“It is a direct violation of the legislation and there is no common sense at all. After all, the country continues to pay pensions to those who have left Ukraine to live abroad,” says lawyer Marina Tolchenko. “And they have been doing this for years because a person has no right to pension only if he/she is not a citizen. And with a residence permit or permanent residency, people can live abroad for their whole lives. And it turns out that they are closer to the state than those who have not left the country. This is blatant lawlessness that no one can put an end to. Moreover, even those who moved out of the conflict zone and seemingly has every right to pension, as the government says, had to go through humiliating verification procedures and prove several times that they are “real displaced persons”.

Now, for this purpose, special commissions visit those who have moved at their new addresses, checking not only whether the person is there, but also his/her living conditions. Which, by order of certain officials, for some reason affect the right to receive a pension.

#DariaMorozova #DPROmbudsman #DPR #Donetsk #Donbass

 

 

Source: Komsomolskaia pravda v Ukraine