The circle of FLA recipients should be expanded, - BCU

Although the UNBA Committee on Legal Aid has consistently advocated for narrowing the list of persons entitled to free legal aid, there is one category of citizens in Ukraine who are unreasonably restricted in their right to receive such aid.

Oksana Kadenko, a member of the Bar Council of Ukraine, chairman of the UNBA's specialized committee, drew attention to this during a meeting of the Bar Council of Ukraine, which is taking place on December 15-16 in Uzhhorod.

She said that until February 24, 2022, the number of missing persons under special circumstances (military operations, temporary occupation) numbered up to a thousand people (eight hundred of them were civilians). Currently, according to official data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the number of missing persons is about 26 thousand. And 95% of them are military personnel and law enforcement officers. However, such data does not fully take into account information about civilians who went missing under special circumstances, in particular, in such large cities as Mariupol, Melitopol, and Berdiansk. Therefore, the actual number of persons missing under special circumstances may be much higher.

Each of the disappeared has family members or close relatives who have rights under the laws «On Social and Legal Protection of Military Personnel and Members of Their Families», «On the Legal Status of Persons Missing in Special Circumstances», and «On Pensions for Persons Discharged from Military Service and Some Other Persons».

We should also not ignore persons who previously had the status of missing under special circumstances, but who were found alive and returned to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities (e.g., return from captivity).

All these persons face the need to resolve a number of legal issues. For example, family members of a missing person need to receive information about the search, benefits and monthly allowances for military personnel. Similarly, persons whose whereabouts have been established face problems with restoring property, family, and labor rights. However, given the low level of legal awareness among citizens, all of them are unable to realize the opportunities guaranteed by the laws of Ukraine on their own.

«What are the mechanisms and procedures in place in our country, how to deal with this situation? All these procedures are implemented through criminal procedure mechanisms. Relatives and friends of the missing persons have to contact investigators, conduct DNA examinations and carry out many other procedures, - emphasized O. Kadenko. - However, these people are not entitled to free legal aid today. And when they apply to free legal aid centers, they are denied».

Therefore, appropriate amendments should be made to the Law «On Free Legal Aid» to provide for the right to receive all types of legal services provided for in part two of Article 13 of this Law for:

• close relatives and family members of a person who went missing under special circumstances;
• persons who had the status of missing under special circumstances but whose whereabouts have been established.

Following the discussion of this issue, the members of the BCU instructed the Committee on Legal Aid to develop appropriate amendments to the Law, for which purpose they should involve interested parties, including international organizations. It was also decided to send the proposals developed by the Committee to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy.