The suspension
of pension payments to the citizens residing outside of Armenia in case of
failure to appear in the bank once a year is problematic. This issue is
reflected in the Human Rights Defender's 2019 Annual Report.
The issue
is that under the current legislation, to continue receiving a pension, the
pensioner has an obligation to visit a bank at least once a year (from the
moment when the application for non-cash payment of the pension was submitted) and
sign a declaration on residing in the Republic of Armenia. Meanwhile, the law
does not provide an opportunity for deeming the missed deadline as reasonable.
The increase in the number of complaints
addressed to the Human Rights Defender from year to year shows the urgency of
the problem. For
example, in one of the applications, the citizen informed that he/she had not
returned to Armenia for more than 10 years because of long-term medical
treatment abroad, which automatically led to the termination of the payment of
the pension.
In reply to the inquiry of the Defender’s
Office, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Armenia informed that
the payment of 40314 pensions (social benefits) on the ground of not signing
the declaration within 2019 has been suspended, of which the payment of 5200
pensions (social benefits) has not been resumed.
A
study of international experience and domestic legislation on the topic was
conducted at the Human Rights Defender's Office.
According
to the Defender position, from the moment of the appointment of the pension,
the money to be provided to pensioners is their property, therefore, they have
the right to use, possess and dispose of that money at their own discretion. The
fact that a pensioner has not applied to the bank at least once a year does not
mean that the pensioner has taken any action to refuse the money he/she owns.
The
Defender recommended making amendment in the RA Law on State Pensions, which
will provide the possibility of considering a reasonable cause for the missed
deadline.
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