The rights of pilots with disabilities have been violated and
continue to be violated by the Government and the judiciary for nearly 15
years.
This is a classic example of how people have been deprived of
the right to compensation for accidents at work, for occupational injuries, and
their healthcare needs due to litigation, and due to a systemic failure to
provide a legal venue for resolving these claims.
Pilots with disabilities have had to raise the issue of their
rights with every successive government over the years, but get the same answers
every time, avoidance, claims left unresolved , fear and frustration, and
inspiring people with promises and hopefulness without delivering on those
promises.
This matter is an example of how the bureaucracy of the
executive branch undermines the very idea of the rule of law, and how the
constitutional principle of human beings having the highest value is grossly
violated.
This matter shows that in practice the state is not responsible
for the person and his/her specific problems, nor is it respectful of his/her
specific rights, no matter how much the Government has enshrined the ideas of
human rights protection in various strategic documents for years.
Such bureaucratic hassles devalue all these ideas in the eyes of
the people and turn them into declarative unreal "thoughts".
The pilots' case was first reported to the Human Rights
Defender's Office in 2006, 15 years ago. Over the years, ombudsmen have written
dozens of letters to relevant government agencies, providing the necessary
legislative research, suggestions for resolving the issue, and organizing or
initiating discussions.
Dozens of meetings were held between representatives of the
Human Rights Defender's Office, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the
Ministry of Justice, and the "Civil Aviation Pilots of the Republic of
Armenia,” an NGO, and “other parties involved in the settlement of the
issue."
The issue has been raised for years in reports by ombudsmen. The
point is that in 2004 the Government repealed a provision of the decision, according
to which, in case of liquidation or restructuring of the organization, the
damage is compensated by its legal successor, and in the absence of the latter,
the state budget.
As a result, the pilots were deprived of their monthly
compensation payments for accidents caused by accidents and occupational
injuries. From 2006 to 2020, the pilots waited for the end of the legal
proceedings on the liquidation of the organization, the purpose of which was to
obtain the sums provided for damages through a legislative initiative, after
having a final judicial act.
For more than 7 years, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
has been circulating a bill that has never materialized, the aim of which is to
resolve the issue of compensation for damages caused by accidents and
occupational injuries in case of liquidation of the organization.
Meanwhile, years of unwarranted delays in the passage of the
bill proven that successive governments have not utilized, and continue to not
utilize persistent efforts to address human rights abuses.
Discussions with the Government in 2017 and 2020 and the labor
agreements reached have registered some positive changes in the solution of the
problem. One such move was the legislative initiative to address the issue.
Meanwhile, in 2020, the Ministry of Justice submitted a negative
conclusion on the adoption of the bill, and the process came to a halt.
After that, discussions with the ombudsman's staff and pilots
with disabilities at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs made it clear
that no concrete steps had been taken to address the issue.
As a result, a situation has been created in which the
international obligations of the Republic of Armenia are being ignored.
In fact, it turns out that none of the relevant bodies denies
that there is a problem, but that problem remains unresolved and human rights
are not restored. It does not take into account the age and health status of
disabled pilots, life expectancy, which should have only contributed to the
urgent solution of the issue and the most favorable solution for them, and not
revert back to the years of unacceptable forgetfulness.
The Government of the Republic of Armenia [with its bodies] is
obliged to provide a solution to this issue as soon as possible, which will
ensure the full realization of the rights of disabled pilots.
We will continue to use all available means within the
competence of the Human Rights Defender to restore the violated rights of
pilots.
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