The Ukrainian human rights organizations have addressed the Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine:
We, representatives of organizations dealing with defence of rights of armed aggression against Ukraine victims, as well as human rights organizations are addressing you regarding the right granted to the persons who have been verified as deprived of personal liberty due to the armed aggression against Ukraine, and members of their families, to obtain annual state monetary aid as established by clause 3 of Regulation on assigning and paying the aid to persons who have been verified as deprived of personal liberty due to the armed aggression against Ukraine, and members of their families, approved by Resolution No. 1281 of Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 15 November 2022.
We are being addressed by family members of Ukrainian citizens who were unlawfully detained and deprived of their freedom by representatives of the occupation administrations of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or by the Russian military, Russian state security agencies men, etc., and who, even when their relatives have been verified as deprived of their personal freedom due to armed aggression against Ukraine, are not able to receive annual monetary aid because they often stay in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and do not have appropriate bank accounts in Ukrainian banks. This being said, the monetary aid is usually almost the only possible way to pay for transferring belongings and food to the sites of unfreedom, for legal assistance, and to cover other expenses, including the support of children who lost their parents.
We believe that with the legal regime of martial law in force, in order to ensure the rights of families to obtain annual aid as established by clause 3 of Regulation on assigning and paying the aid to persons who have been verified as deprived of personal liberty due to the armed aggression against Ukraine, and members of their families, this Regulation should be amended to introduce a provision for transferring this annual aid to the bank account of third parties who stay in the Government of Ukraine controlled territory and who are authorized to receive funds on behalf of family members of a person who has been verified as deprived of personal liberty due to the armed aggression against Ukraine. Such authorized person should be named by the family member in an application to the Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine on verifying that the person was deprived of personal liberty due to the armed aggression against Ukraine.
Considering the abovementioned, we ask to amend clause 3 of Regulation on assigning and paying the aid to persons who have been verified as deprived of personal liberty due to the armed aggression against Ukraine, and members of their families, approved by Resolution No. 1281 of Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 15 November 2022, and to word it as follows: “3. The annual state monetary aid shall be granted to a person verified as deprived of personal liberty due to the armed aggression against Ukraine or their family members when the person is held in the site of unfreedom, by transferring the funds to an amount of UAH100,000 by the Ministry of Reintegration to their personal accounts opened in bank institutions. The person verified as deprived of personal liberty due to the armed aggression against Ukraine or their family members may authorize another person in their application to obtain the annual state monetary aid.”
Crimean Human Rights Group
Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union
ZMINA Centre for Human Rights
DOCUDAYS NGO
CrimeaSOS NGO
VOSTOK SOS Charity Fund
DONBAS SOS NGO
Regional Centre for Human Rights NGO
HRUPA VPLYVU Civil Holding NGO
STABILIZATION SUPPORT SERVICES Charity Fund Charity Organization
ALMENDA Centre for Civil Education NGO
Human Rights House CRIMEA
CHARITY AND HEALTH FUND Charity Organization
Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners of Kremlin NGO