Today The Human Right Defender of RA appealed to the
Constitutional Court to restore the violated rights of pilots with
disabilities.
In particular, the application challenges the provisions of the
Civil Code, the Labor Code, and the two Government decisions which do not
establish effective mechanisms, and which have led to the fact that the rights
of pilots with disabilities have been violated and continue to be violated by
both the Government and the court.
This case is a classic example of how people have been deprived
of the right to compensation for accidents at work, occupational diseases and
worsening of their health due to litigation and failure to provide remedial
resolution of the issue grounded in law.
Pilots with disabilities have had to raise the issue of
protection of their rights with each government over the years, but in the end
it is the same: each time they are met with evasive answers, leaving issues
unresolved, and are consistently provided with answers that are motivated by
unfounded grounds while inspiring people only with unrealized hopes.
This case is an example of how the bureaucracy of the executive
branch undermines the idea of the rule of law, and how the constitutional
principle of a person afforded the highest value is grossly violated.
This case shows that in practice the responsibility of the state
for a person and his/her specific problems, and respect for his/her specific
rights is not ensured, no matter how much the Government has enshrined the
ideas of human rights protection in various strategic documents.
Such bureaucratic hassles devalue all of these ideas in the eyes
of the people and turn them into declarative unrealized “thoughts".
The pilots' case was first reported to the Human Rights
Defender's Office in 2006, 15 years ago. Over the years, Ombudspersons have
written dozens of letters to relevant government agencies seeking necessary
legislative research, resolution of issues, and organizing of 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" NGO, and with other parties involved in the settlement of the
issue.
The issue has been raised for many years in reports by
ombudsmen.
In 2004, the government repealed a provision of the decision
that transfers obligations of compensation to the successor of an organization
due to its termination, or in case of its liquidation or restructuring, and in
the absence of the latter, to the state budget.
The point is that there is no legal framework in the domestic
legislation aimed at obtaining compensation for damage to life or health due to
accidents at work, or due to occupational diseases in the event of a
dissolution of a government institution. As a result, the pilots were deprived
of their monthly compensation payments for accidents caused by accidents and
occupational diseases.
From 2006 to 2020, the pilots awaited the completion of the
lawsuits for the liquidation of the organization, the aim of which was to
receive the sums intended for compensation through a legislative initiative
after having a final court decision.
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 diseases in case of liquidation of the organization.
Meanwhile, years of unwarranted delays in the passage of the
bill have proven that governments have not made, and continue to fail, to
undertake persistent efforts to address human rights abuses.
Discussions with the Government in 2017 and 2020 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
assessment on the adoption of the bill, and consequently the process came to a
halt.
Thereafter, 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 deny that
there is a problem, yet that problem remains unresolved and human rights
continue to not be restored. The age and health condition of the disabled
pilots, the life expectancy, which should have only contributed to the urgent
and most favorable solution of the issues instead of being relegated to the
impermissible forgetfulness over the years, is all but not taken into account.
The Government of the Republic of Armenia [with its relevant
bodies] is obliged to provide a solution to this issue as soon as possible to
ensure the full realization of the rights of pilots with disabilities.
Thus, upon the application of the Human Rights Defender
submitted to the Constitutional Court, Article 1086 of the RA Civil Code,
Article 236 of the RA Labor Code, as well as two decisions of the RA Government
on compensation for damage to life or health, Articles 29, 60, 75, 78, and 81
of the RA Constitution are challenged insofar as they do not provide for
effective legal frameworks for compensation for damage to life or health due to
accidents at work, or occupational diseases in the event of liquidation or absence
of the relevant government institution.
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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