ANNUAL REPORTOF UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CHAPTER 1 22 Violation of the right to retirement benefits of civil servants, officials of local self-government bodies and other equal persons The Commissioner was approached by pensioners who used to work as civil servants, local selfgovernment officials and equal persons to return them conditions and procedure for awarding/ recalculation of pensions that they were eligible to during their work in the civil service and local self-government bodies (as at that time they had special legal status and were paying higher pension contributions). The Commissioner’s proposals to address this issue were not supported by the Ministry of Social Policy and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The latter referred to the fact that the state pension insurance policy is aimed at introducing unified approaches to pension payment for pensioners of all categories. To protect the rights of the specified category of citizens, in November 2019, the Commissioner filed a case to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine regarding the conformity of the provisions of Article 90, sub-item 1, item 2, section XI, “Final and Transitional Provisions” of the Law of Ukraine “On Civil Service” #889-VIII of 10 December 2015, part seven of Article 21 of the Law of Ukraine “On Service in Local Self-Government Bodies” # 2493-III of 7 June 2001 with the Constitution of Ukraine , under which the Constitutional Court opened a constitutional proceeding2. The case is currently being considered in the closed part of the written procedure. Non-payment of pensions to citizens of Ukraine who reside abroad There is no legal regulation to the issue of paying pensions to Ukrainian citizens when they leave for permanent residence abroad, unless Ukraine has concluded an international pension agreement with the respective state. To protect the rights of this category of citizens of Ukraine, including those who received pension payments in 2014 from the bodies of the PFU currently located in the temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, in accordance with the court decisions issued in their favour in November In 2019, a submission was sent to the Prime Minister of Ukraine. The Commissioner’s proposals were left unanswered, as the recipient referred to the impossibility of securing the implementation of the relevant legislative initiatives, since they require significant expenditures from the PFU budget, which could lead to its imbalance. However, international agreements already signed by Ukraine (Agreement between Ukraine and the State of Israel on social security of 28 December 2012, Agreement between Ukraine and the Federal Republic of Germany on social security of 28 September 2019) have not yet been ratified. 2 www.ccu.gov.ua/novyna/konstytuciyni-podannya-stanom-na-4-lyutogo-2020-roku.