The analysis of the
complaints addressed to the Human Rights Defender in relation to the Compulsory
Enforcement Service of the Ministry of Justice demonstrate that the systemic
issues remain to be unresolved. The practice of confiscating money that is not subject
to confiscation is an example of the aforementioned issues. This statement
specifically refers to confiscation of money from disability pension accounts,
as a result of which people face hassles and their rights are violated.
The issue is the fact that
when people apply to the Compulsory Enforcement Service to reverse the confiscation,
the Service demands from the applicants to substantiate why the money cannot be
confiscate; moreover, they require evidence in written form or a certificate
from the bank.
Meanwhile however, the
Service should have revealed itself that the amount in question could not be
confiscated, since it was provided to the citizen as a disability pension or as
a benefit which is not subject to confiscation. Even if the issue is related to
the bank, the state must solve the issue at the expense of the introduced
mechanisms.
In other words, it is
inadmissible to leave the burden of resolving the shortcomings of the state to
a person with a disability. The state itself must immediately reveal the truth
as soon as it receives an alarming-call, including if it has implemented a
wrong confiscation of money, and to solve the raised issues.
In one of the complaints
addressed to the Defender, the person with a 2nd group of disability stated
that a confiscation from their monthly pension had taken place. The complainant
noted that they live in the province (outside Yerevan), is in a poor health,
receives treatment in various institutions of the Republic and is in need of
medicines. In this regard, the Compulsory Enforcement Service informed the Office
of the Defender that the bank had mistakenly transferred the amount of the
disability pension to the Compulsory Enforcement Service. The citizen was
obligated to travel to another city in the province, since that specific bank
did not have a branch nearby. The citizen took a bank statement and presented
it to the Enforcement Service of the province; they informed the citizen that
the issue will not be solved rapidly, and that they will receive the amount
back within a month.
Another complainant
stated that he was the debtor of the initiated enforcement proceedings and was
receiving a disability pension. According to the complainant, an amount was
confiscated from their disability pension account. They also stated that they
had applied to the Enforcement Service, however, the issue was not solved.
The issue raised by the
complainant was discussed with the Enforcement Service; they informed that they
were not informed that the mentioned account was a disability pension account,
and hence the amount was confiscated. According to the Service, they contacted
the bank asking them to confirm that account from witch an amount was
confiscated was a disability pension account; once confirmed the confiscated
amount would be returned to the account.
As a result of the
collaboration of the Human Rights Defender with the bank and the Compulsory
Enforcement Service, the Service received the required document from the bank,
and has expressed readiness to resolve the issue.
In another complaint
addressed to the Defender, a citizen informed that the Compulsory Enforcement
Service had blocked their access to their disability pension account.
The Defender raised the
issue with the Service, which expressed its readiness to solve the problem.
Regarding the issue
raised last year, the Ministry of Justice of Armenia clarified that at the time
of the initiation, the Compulsory Enforcement Service does not have any
information on the source of money in the debtor's bank accounts. Therefore,
there are cases when an amount equivalent to the debt owed is blocked from the
debtor's salary or other similar income, including the pension. When, however,
as a result of a request from the Social Security Service or the relevant
certificate submitted by the debtor (or their representative) to the Compulsory
Enforcement Service, including the certificate received from the employer, it
was revealed that blocked amounts are money envisaged by Chapter 6 of the Armenian
Law on Compulsory Enforcement of Judicial Acts, the Service blocked the amount
in the same manner as provided in Chapter.
Therefore, determining if
a person has disabilities or is a pensioner is done in a later stage, while the
confiscation of amounts is done without clarifying the circumstances and with a
violation of the law.
The Office of the Human
Rights Defender considers it important to state that cooperation has been
established with the Compulsory Enforcement Service, and the issues related to
the individual cases raised by the Office are addressed by the Service.
However, solving individual cases is not a remedy to systemic problems.
Therefore, immediate
measures should be taken to establish appropriate mechanisms to guarantee the
rights of people with disabilities and to end the unacceptable practice of
confiscating money from disability pension accounts.
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