Dear Members of Parliament!
Can it be positive draft law, table of contents of which filled with manipulative normsand the preparation procedure turned out to be a blasphemy!!! Of course not!!!
After the People's Deputies of Ukraine refused to adopt the scandalous, unlawful and destructive draft Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Ensuring the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to Work" (registration No. 5344-d) (hereinafter - the Draft Law 5344-d) early last year, which violates many provisions of the current legislation on support for people with disabilities and the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, by the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of February 23, 2023 No. 2935-IX, this draft law was sent to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Social Policy and Veterans' Rights for preparation for consideration in the repeated first reading.
All this time, people with disabilities and their associations hoped that the draft law 5344-d would be improved with their suggestions in such a way that their rights would not be violated. After lengthy discussions with the factions and promises from the Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Social Policy and Veterans' Rights, Hanna Tretyakova, that all scandalous, illegal and destructive provisions of the draft law 5344-d would be removed from its text, the draft law was adopted by the Parliament of Ukraine
May 30, 2023 in the first reading.
For a long time, the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Social Policy and Protection of Veterans' Rights discussed, or rather pretended to discuss, the proposals of public associations of persons with disabilities to draft law 5344-d and promised to take into account the proposals of civil society.
However, after several postponements of the consideration of draft law 5344-d, on January 17, 2024, a new comparative table to the relevant draft law was presented at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Social Policy and Veterans' Rights, which had not been previously presented to public associations of persons with disabilities.
People with disabilities and theirRoma associations were shocked by this behavior of MPs and new comparison table to the draft law 5344-das this table indicated that only 11 committee amendments had been taken into account, while more than nine hundred other amendments were being processed, although in fact no one was going to process or take into account the proposals of civil society in the field of protection of the rights of persons with disabilities.
It turned out that 15 working group meetings of 3-4 hours each, held at the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Social Policy and Protection of the rights of veterans, where all these more than nine hundred amendments were discussed with the public in order to find a compromise.The whole thing was a "performance"?
In fact, all this time, public organizations of people with disabilities in Ukraine felt that their involvement in the finalization of the draft law 5344-d was formal, and in the end this was confirmed by the following shameful result!
Лpeople with disabilities and their associations realized that they had been deceived and that more than nine hundred amendments were simply rejected, and on January 17, 2024, without any warning or discussion, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee H.M. Tretyakova put Draft Law 5344-d to a vote with a recommendation that MPs adopt this draft law in the second reading and as a whole.
And more, June 10, 2024 and June 12, 2024 to a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Social Policy and Protection of Veterans' Rightswhich considered draft law 5344-d, representatives of public associations of persons with disabilitiesIn particular, the National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Society of the Blind and the Ukrainian Society of the Deaf, I was not invited at all.
Thus, not only people with disabilities and their associations, but also members of the Ukrainian Parliament were shamelessly used and misled, During the voting in the first reading, MPs were promised to finalize the draft law 5344-d in such a way that all its scandalous, illegal and destructive provisions would be removed so as not to violate the rights of people with disabilities and not to worsen their social support and employment.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DRAFT LAW 5344-Д IN FACT, A NEW TAX, INCLUDING FOR ENTERPRISES, INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR, IN THE FORM OF A CONTRIBUTION TO SUPPORT THE EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND ADMINISTER IT WILL BEGINNINGS TAX SERVICEAND THEN THE PENSION FUND OF UKRAINE! THE INEVITABILITY OF PAYING SUCH A "TAX" WILL HAVE ESPECIALLY NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR, AS INSTEAD OF PAYING SALARIES TO PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES, FUNDS WILL BE USED TO PAY IT.
In addition, the draft law 5344-d, in particular:
- exempts a large number of private sector employers from the obligation to employ people with disabilities. Such employers will include entities with the highest number of accidents/occupational diseases at work. These entities have long dreamed of this, but for thirty years they have not been able to implement these illegal initiatives due to the socially significant position of the previous cadences of Ukrainian parliaments;
- declares European integration, although in reality it only imitates the introduction of incentive mechanisms for employers to hire people with disabilities and expand employment opportunities for this category of people. Most of what is presented in this regard as "innovations" are reformulated and/or distorted norms of the current legislation that can already be implemented, but the Ministry of Social Policy and the Social Protection Fund simply do not allocate funds for this. The viability of these "innovations" is unrealistic, and this is in Ukraine, where the problems of people with disabilities have become extremely acute as a result of Russia's military aggression;
- cancels financial support for hundreds of operating enterprises of public associations of persons with disabilities, which today employ thousands of people with disabilities, including those enterprises that provide their products to the Armed Forces of Ukraine;
- abolishes tax privileges for hundreds of enterprises of public associations of people with disabilities, which today employ thousands of people with disabilities;
- abolishes the norms for printing literature in Braille for blind citizens of Ukraine and the mechanism for financing the production of such literature. At the same time, the draft law 5344-d includes declarative provisions that the state will ensure the production of audiobooks and the printing of literature in Braille. It does not specify who exactly will be responsible for this, nor at what expense it will be carried out;
- creates the appearance of mandatory provision of social services to persons with disabilities (social support in the workplace, personal assistants, sign language interpretation, etc.).
The relevant rules are written in such a way that they do not make it clear who and how should ensure the mandatory provision of such services - employers or the state, and thus this is another profanation;
- abolishes funding for education, social, professional, physical culture and sports, and labor rehabilitation of persons with disabilities (excludes the definition of labor rehabilitation of persons with disabilities and the entire article on this type of rehabilitation). Nonsense - the draft law 5344-d on ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities to work excludes from the legislation the norms on labor and other types of rehabilitation and their financing, instead of standardizing and developing these types of rehabilitation;
- legalizes the dismissal of employees who have suffered an accident/occupational disease at work. An employer who does not wish to continue employment relations with those injured at work may dismiss them by paying them three times their average salary for six months;
- declares tax benefitsthat are not in the Tax Code of Ukraine, and financial support for labor integration enterprises and protected employment enterprisesthat do not exist.
This is not the whole list of shortcomings of the draft law 5344-d.
Draft law 5344-d does not comply with the Budget and Tax Codes of Ukraine and the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as these codes do not provide for the provisions declared in the draft law. The implementation of the relevant law is impossible without amending a large number of codes and laws of Ukraine.
The draft law 5344-d does not contain any financial and economic calculations. Therefore, some innovations may lead to critical consequences.
The Main Legal Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has numerous comments on draft law 5344-d and summarizing the conclusion that "the project needs to be finalized...".
Taking into account the above, we believe that you will listen to the reasoned proposals of public associations and people with disabilities, who are becoming more and more numerous in our country, and support us!
We are citizens of Ukraine with disabilities who find it incredibly difficult to live today!
We're tired of clumsy experiments!
We demand decisions agreed with us!
We hope for your understanding and support of the inadmissibility of violating the rights of people with disabilities!
Based on the above and noting the violation of the Constitution of Ukraine, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Budget and Tax Codes of Ukraine, and the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, we once again appeal to you to REJECT THE ADOPTION OF DRAFT LAW 5344-D IN THE SECOND READING AND AS A WHOLE!
Sincerest regards and hopes.
Chairman of the NAIU, human rights activist Valery Sushkevich
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