Plastic passports to come at a cost for Ukrainians – human rights activist

The fee for plastic ID cards will violate the human rights.

Human rights defender Volodymyr Yavorsky posted this on his Facebook page, commenting on the statement by the President Poroshenko on the revolutionary introduction of the ID cards in Ukraine.

“Until now, an internal passport cost almost nothing. Moreover, it was issued free of charge for many people, including when it was issued for the first time. Now it will cost, as we were told, UAH 100-160 without VAT, that is, in fact, it will cost no less than UAH 180-200 upon receipt. This price will not include additional services, such as applying for a passport for travel abroad. What should people, who have no money for a passport, do? This is an important human rights violation because many categories of people should be able to obtain a passport free of charge,” the human rights activist said.

Volodymyr Yavorsky also noted that Ukraine had not got ready for the introduction of plastic cards instead of paper passports.

In particular, the authorities have not formed a register of citizens, which was drawn up in many other countries before issuing such cards.

“Every government agency in these countries has a device for reading information from this card, or, at least, a device, which could verify the authenticity of the card. The list of information contained in this card is defined by the law and is clear unlike in Ukraine. Everyone realizes that our authorities do not have access to the registry of citizens and have no reading devices,” Volodymyr Yavorsky noted.

The human rights activist predicts that in this case, the citizens will need to make references with specific information from the ID cards.

“How will you prove you are registered at some specific address? Or how will you provide other information from the passport? Many government agencies ask for that information. Banks, for example, take a copy of your passport. It is obvious that they will decide a matter not in favor of citizens. They will require access to the registry of citizens, shifting the problem to a person, as well as laying the cost of new equipment on the consumer,” the human rights activist said, noting that he sees no benefit for a person from such a card.

December 14, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that the plastic passport will allow moving to the electronic state.