Officials take away certificates from IDPs whom they consider to be ‘swindlers’
The representatives of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the State Security Service make the lists of IDPs, whom they consider to be “swindlers.”
They submit the lists to the department for labor and social protection, and then the IDPs are deprived of certificates, reads the statement of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights.
“Since February 19, 2016, I have been receiving the messages from the NGOs and public initiatives dealing with the help to internally displaced persons about the mass cancellations of certificates of registration of internally displaced persons in an ‘automatic mode’,” chairman of the Committee Hryhoriy Nemyria said.
Such lists have started to be submitted to the department since February 18. The information was confirmed by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. According to him, the government has already abolished the payments for 150,000 persons.
According to Social Policy Minister Pavlo Rozenko, his agency is actively working with the Security Service of Ukraine for the past three months “to eliminate the fraudulent schemes associated with the payments to IDPs.”
The Committee reminds that a certificate of IDP is the only document which gives the right to social benefits. Without it, thousands of families remain without the financial assistance from the state.
In addition, such a practice of “suspension” of certificates directly contradicts the effective legislation and the Constitution.
At the same time, the government cannot introduce an effective tool of control over the payments, the single register of displaced persons, as required by the public and the international partners for two years already.
