Lump-sum payments to military personnel who received disability before August 1997 have been started

Baku/03.08.22/Turan: In accordance with the new Regulation approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population has begun providing lump-sum payments to the disabled of the first Karabakh War.

The program covers military personnel and employees of internal affairs bodies, heirs of persons who died from them, whose disability was established as a result of an injury received during military service before August 2, 1997, when the law "On State compulsory personal insurance of military personnel" came into force.

The amount of one-time payment for disability of the first degree is 8,800 manats, for disability of the second degree - 6,600 manats, for disability of the third degree - 4,400 manats.

How adequate is this amount? To what extent is the social protection of these persons secured in these years?

The Ministry of Labor and Social Security of the Population reported that until August 2, 1997, when the Law "On State Compulsory Personal Insurance of Military Personnel" came into force, up to 11.000 war invalids who were injured in military service were entered by the relevant structures into the appropriate electronic system, including adoption of court decisions to obtain insurance payments, payments were assigned and transferred to bank accounts.

The Ministry noted that due to the lack of information about injuries in electronic systems, as well as in the relevant archives, persons who have not been paid electronically should contact the military medical commission of the organization in which they serve to enter a certificate, decision or certificate of injury into the electronic system. "After the specified document is entered into the electronic system by the relevant authority, they should contact the "Friends Centers", unified coordination centers or local DSMF units with the following documents."

The Ministry stressed that the lump-sum payment is provided not only to those who are currently in the status of a disabled person of war, but also to those who at one time became disabled due to the first Karabakh war, but subsequently recovered, that is, rehabilitated and has no degree of disability. "At the same time, in case of the death of a disabled person of the first Karabakh War, it is planned to allocate these funds to their heirs. There will also be payments to persons who previously received payments less than the current amount."

It was noted that the state constantly provides assistance to disabled people, families of martyrs in connection with the war. "As a result of the reforms carried out in this direction in 2021, the pensions of these individuals rose by an average of 52 percent. At the same time, there was an increase in pensions to the families of martyrs by an average of nearly 70 percent. Looking at the last 4 years, we see that the amount of payments for persons with disabilities due to the war has risen by 2.4-2.7 times. As for benefits, their amount has increased from 65 to 78 percent, depending on the degree of disability. At the same time, the amount of the surcharge for the title of national hero has increased by 38 percent over the past 4 years. In general, if we look at the amount of funding for state support for war invalids, it has risen by 65 percent. If in 2018 the amount of funds paid to persons from this segment amounted to 270 million manats per year, now this amount has risen to 450 million manats. At the same time, if in 2018 the average amount of pensions and benefits was 428 manats, now it has grown to 827 manats."

Military expert Uzeyir Jafarov told Radio Azadlig that a lump sum payment will be paid to persons who became disabled before August 2, 1997. After the signing of the ceasefire agreement in 1994, we began to improve the legislative framework in the military sphere. Since August 2, 1997, we have already had a law in force, and this law was applied to persons who were disabled during the war, discharged into the reserve and became disabled within 3 years after the end of the war, insurance was paid."

The expert noted that now this issue has been resolved in this way. "But where they got these insurance figures, how they got them, only the Ministry of Labor and Social Security of the Population should clarify. Why exactly 8800, 6600 and 4400 manats. For a disabled person of group 1, 8800 manats is good money, but it would be better to do it on time. I think that for 25 years this figure is very small."

According to the expert, there are people who were granted a degree of disability, and then it was canceled, which may lead to the fact that the provision of this one-time assistance will again cause dissatisfaction of these persons.--0-