30 NGOs have signed a statement on the need to ensure the right to receive a one-time allowance for all volunteers affected in war zones.

30 NGOs, including ISAR Ednannia, Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law, Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research, International Charitable Foundation Caritas Ukraine, Zmina Human Rights Center, Ukrainian Volunteer Service and others, have signed a statement addressed to the Cabinet of Ministers. The document demands to ensure the right of all volunteers injured in war zones during their volunteer work to receive one-time monetary aid from the state.

This appeal was in response to the draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated Wednesday, August 19, 2015 No. 604”. 

In particular, the signatories believe that “despite the stated purpose of development, the proposed wording of the Draft Resolution violates the right of injured volunteers and their family members to receive one-time benefit from the state in case of disability or death of a volunteer in combat areas.

The draft resolution proposes to remove from Resolution No. 604 the provision that allows volunteers or their family members to apply for welfare benefit when providing volunteer assistance to ordinary citizens, i.e. civilians in combat zones.”

“Thus,” the authors of the statement state, “only volunteers who provide assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, other military formations and law enforcement agencies will be able to receive welfare benefit.”

Here is the rest of the text of the statement in full:

“This approach is inadmissible, because it is a violation of the approach defined in Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine “On Volunteer Activity”, which defines the implementation of volunteer activities in certain areas as the key grounds for receiving a one-time allowance. These areas include the areas of:

• Carrying out an anti-terrorist operation;
• Implementing measures to ensure national security and defense, repel and deter armed aggression of the Russian Federation in the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions;
• Implementing measures necessary to ensure the defense of Ukraine, the protection of the safety of the population and the interests of the state in connection with the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and/or that of any other country against Ukraine;
• Hostilities and armed conflicts.

Limiting the opportunities for receiving financial assistance for volunteers who provide assistance to citizens in the above-mentioned areas means violating their legally established rights.

In addition, one of the areas of volunteer activity, which is defined in Part 3 of Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine “On Volunteer Activity” is “providing volunteer assistance to citizens affected as a result of man-made or natural emergency situation, the effect of a special period, legal regimes of a state of emergency or martial law, conducting an anti-terrorist operation, implementing measures to ensure national security and defense, repelling and deterring the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, implementing measures necessary to ensure the defense of Ukraine, protecting the safety of the population and the interests of the state in connection with the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and/or that of any other country against Ukraine, as a result of social conflicts, accidents, as well as victims of criminal offenses, refugees, internally displaced persons”.

Therefore, the possibility of carrying out the corresponding area of volunteer activity to help citizens and the provisions of Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine “On Volunteer Activity” oblige to determine the procedure for providing financial assistance to volunteers injured when carrying out the legally defined area of activity to help citizens in legally defined areas, provided that legally defined circumstances, namely in case of death or disability of such a volunteer.

It should also be noted that as of the date of publication of this Statement, the deadline for bringing Resolution No. 604 into compliance with Law No. 2519 is more than 3 months overdue. After all, we are talking about providing opportunities for exercising the rights of volunteers who sacrificed and continue to sacrifice their lives and health to help Ukraine and Ukrainians in the war zone. Currently, without the necessary changes to Resolution No. 604, volunteers who were injured in Kyiv Region, Chernihiv Region, Kharkiv Region, Kherson Region, and other regions where hostilities were or are taking place cannot exercise the right to receive one-time allowance, as the current version of Resolution No. 604 applies only to the territory of Luhansk and Donetsk Regions. 

In view of the above, we appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with a request:

• Prevent the adoption of amendments to Resolution No. 604 in the current version, which provide for restrictions on the ability of volunteers or their family members to receive one-time benefit in the event of death or disability of such a volunteer in the territories of hostilities while providing assistance to citizens.
• Create a working group with the involvement of representatives of civil society organizations and the volunteer community to develop amendments to Resolution No. 604 that will take into account the interests of volunteers and their families as much as possible, and approve the amendments as soon as possible to ensure the applicability of Resolution No. 604.
• Involve CSO representatives who have joined this statement in a working group to develop changes to Resolution No. 604 to reflect the provisions of Law No. 2519.”

There is no information about the removal of this clause in the explanation to the draft resolution on the website of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, but it says the following:

“Law No. 2519 amended, in particular, Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine “On Volunteer Activity”, according to which the right to receive one-time monetary aid is extended to volunteers who became persons with disability as a result of an injury (post-concussion syndrome, injury or mutilation) sustained during the provision of volunteer assistance in the area of measures necessary to ensure the defense of Ukraine, protection of public security and interests of the state in connection with the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and/or that of any other country against Ukraine, and in the event of their death, their family members shall have the right to one-time monetary aid.” 

But in the comparative table to the draft resolution, the wording about volunteer assistance to citizens is really crossed out:

It should be noted that the Ministry of Veterans Affairs released the draft of this resolution on January 4, while proposals were accepted until January 12. See the comparative table and the draft resolution  here. See the statement of NGOs here. NGOs can co-sign the statement by filling out the form.

It will be recalled that “Media for Change” reported that a number of NGOs called on MPs to support changes to the Electoral Code and the Law of Ukraine “On the All-Ukrainian Referendum” in terms of information provision and campaigning.

We also want to remind you that President Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed the Verkhovna Rada-supported law No. 8271, which increases the responsibility for war crimes committed by the military personnel, which was opposed by a number of human rights organizations.

The Verkhovna Rada supported the government draft law No. 8084 on amendments to some laws of Ukraine regarding regulation of activities and state registration of NGOs in the first reading.

Photo: zbruc.eu