Chapter 5. Observing rights and freedoms of persons who suffered temporary occupation and armed conflict The existing legal framework creates room for discrimination on the basis of a person’s place of residence, 109 violates property rights and deprives those who are physically unable to cross the ‘contact line’ of the right to a pension39. The right to social protection includes the right of citizens to financial support when they get older. An old-age pension, seniority pension and other retirement benefits earned in the course of previous employment are a form of social protection. This right determines the content and nature of the state’s obligation to those citizens who have acquired the right to receive a pension. By enshrining at constitutional level the right to social protection of every citizen, without any exceptions, the state is implementing the provisions of Article 24 of the Constitution of Ukraine, according to which citizens have equal constitutional rights and there are no restrictions based on race, colour of skin, political, religious or other beliefs, sex, ethnic and social origin, property status, place of residence, language or other features. Given the social importance of pensions, a citizen’s right to a pension cannot be linked to conditions such as permanent residence in Ukraine; in accordance with constitutional principles, the State is obliged to guarantee this right regardless of where the person resides – in Ukraine or abroad 40. Therefore, applying the principle of legal analogy and effective legislation41, it can be stated that the right of a person to a pension cannot be limited because of his/her place of residence. This is also confirmed by national and international case law on similar issues. However, local social protection authorities do not try to obtain such information and consider that if an internally displaced is absent from that person’s place of temporary residence for more than 60 days, the status should be revoked. In many cases, the internally displaced persons may be absent from their place of residence (because they are in hospital, for instance), but they have remained in governmentcontrolled areas and have not crossed the ‘contact line’. The decision to revoke the certificate may be appealed to the court of administrative proceedings. However, all this time, the person will not be receiving financial assistance, social benefits and pensions. This puts the internally displaced persons on the brink of survival, as even after the internally displaced certificate is renewed, the arrears incurred are not paid. To date, the residents of the temporarily occupied territories can only receive social payments and pensions if they travel to the territory controlled by Ukrainian authorities and register as internally displaced persons. 39 40 The Constitutional Court in case 1-32/2009. Under Law of Ukraine 1058-IV “On Compulsory State Pension Insurance” of 9 July 2003, the conditions and provisions of compulsory state pension insurance are changed exclusively by amendments to this Law. In this context, it is important to note that during the occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, no changes were made to this Law concerning pensions for citizens living in the occupied territories or who had relocated from there. 41 CHAPTER 5 Some of the appeals addressed to the Commissioner indicate that the authorities take a “tick-box” approach to implementation of Law of Ukraine 1706-VII “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons” of 20 October 2014 (hereafter Law 1706-VII) with regard to removal of internally displaced status by social protection bodies. The Law requires the establishment not only of the fact that the person has been absent from that person’s temporary place of residence for a certain period of time, but also that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person has returned to the abandoned permanent place of residence.