The IDPs en masse report problems with the payment of pensions in May, - Donbass SOS non-government organization, which deals with IDPs' problems, reports.
Donbass SOS hotline literally collapsed in the morning due to lots of complaints about the non-payment of pensions to IDPs. People called from all regions of Ukraine: Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Odessa, Poltava and other oblasts:
- "I did not receive a pension yesterday. I managed to call the Pension Fund, they said that all the IDPs were removed from their database, and they know nothing about it".
- "The Pension Fund told me that there were no payments to the IDPs. They asked to wait for a month and did not explain the reasons. My mother and brother did not receive their pensions as well".
- "I did not get my pension on May 4. I got a phone call from the Pension Fund saying that they had frozen payments for all the IDPs. They do not know the deadline. There will be a total check".
- "My mother did not receive her pension. She called to the Pension Fund and was told that they were waiting for a special order. They said to wait for a month".
- "The displaced persons were not charged a pension. It was said in the Pension Fund that the government decided how to pay a pension to the IDPs in May".
- "She did not receive a pension yesterday. She called to the Pension Fund and was told that all the displaced persons had been removed from the database. They themselves know nothing".
It is noted that an employee of Donbass SOS from among internally displaced persons who receive a disability pension has also faced this problem.
The organization has already appealed to the Ministry of Social Policy and Pension Fund of Ukraine for explanations regarding the current situation, but there are no answers as yet.
Human rights defenders emphasize that the pension is predominantly the only source of income for IDPs-pensioners.
Donbass SOS also appealed to Ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova with an urgent request to get involved in the resolution of this problem.