Human rights activists won the case regarding social payments to displaced persons

In April 2016, a confused internally displaced person, who currently lives in Sumy, contacted the lawyers of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights. As it turned out, since March 2016, she and her two children – boys aged 11 and 4 – had been stopped receiving monthly targeted assistance, the so-called “resettlement money”.

The reason is the absence of a mark of the territorial unit of the State Migration Service on the certificate of an internally displaced person. Such a stamp was previously placed on the back of the certificate of an internally displaced person.

The woman, like many other internally displaced persons who found themselves in similar situations, was sent from the social security agency to the territorial unit of the State Migration Service to have the stamp extended. Without this, according to social security workers, the certificate is not valid at all.

But the migration service informed her that from 01/13/2016, the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Strengthening Guarantees of Observance of the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons” No. 921-VIII dated 12/24/2015 came into force, which amended the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons” No. 1706-VII dated 10/20/2014. In particular, the legislator completely abolished the procedure for migrants to apply to territorial units of the State Migration Service of Ukraine to put marks on the registration of their place of residence on the back of certificates of registration of internally displaced persons, as well as any checks by territorial units of the State Migration Service of Ukraine. In addition, the place of residence of persons displaced from the combat zone must now be certified directly by certificates of registration of displaced persons. This process must be ensured by the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine.

Therefore, the employees of the migration service were unable to help the applicant in any way, they did not put a new stamp on the certificate. And the social security body refused to pay her, referring to the Procedure for issuing and issuing a certificate of registration of a person, which was approved by the famous resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Registration of Internally Displaced Persons” No. 509 of 01.10.2014, and the relevant explanatory letters of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine. That is why social workers were obliged to send all displaced persons – from social security bodies to territorial divisions of the State Migration Service of Ukraine, according to marks that have not been put there for a long time.

The woman found herself in a difficult financial situation, because her family was forced to leave their permanent place of residence in Donetsk in the summer of 2014, leaving almost all of their property there, which they had accumulated over many years. She left there, taking with her only the children, documents and the most necessary things. To live, the family is forced to rent housing, the fee for which, taking into account the payment of housing and communal services, is very high for them. With constantly increasing prices for housing, food, housing and communal services, and so on, a family with two children has to survive almost on the verge of poverty.

Lawyers of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights prepared an administrative lawsuit on behalf of citizen Ch., which fully outlined all the circumstances of this absurd situation and requested that the actions of the social protection body regarding the refusal to provide monthly targeted cash assistance to cover living expenses, including payment for housing and communal services, be recognized as unlawful. In addition, the lawyers asked the court to oblige the social protection body to make an assessment – to extend the payment, in accordance with the citizen’s application of 02.03.2016 for the resumption of payment of the said assistance.

At the same time, a petition was submitted to the court on behalf of the plaintiff Ch. to exempt her from paying the court fee. After all, this amount, which is 551 UAH 20 kopecks, taking into account the difficult financial situation that has developed in the family at this time, is too significant for her, especially after the termination of all social payments.

As a result, the Zarechy District Court of Sumy, by its decision of May 5, 2016, fully satisfied the claim. It should be noted that this court decision regarding the appeal of the unlawful termination of payments to IDPs is one of the first not only in the Sumy region, but also throughout Ukraine.

According to Tukhan Ediev, a representative of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, the problems of receiving proper social payments are one of the most urgent, with which IDPs turn to human rights defenders for legal assistance.

The project “Advocacy and Legal Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons” is implemented by the Danish Refugee Council in Ukraine with funding from the European Commission’s Department for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) in 20 regions of Ukraine. The project partner in Chernihiv, Sumy and Poltava regions is the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights.”