Since January of this year, a single electronic address for appeals to the military ombudsman has been launched in Ukraine. Servicemen, conscripts, and their family members can report violations of rights. UNN tells where to write and what complaints will be accepted.
Where to apply for servicemen in case of rights violations
In December 2024, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Olha Reshetylova (Kobylinska) as the Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for the Protection of the Rights of Servicemen and Family Members of Warriors.
Zelensky appoints Olga Reshetylova as military ombudsman30.12.24, 17:52 • [views_88207]
Since January of this year, a single electronic address for appeals to the military ombudsman has been introduced in Ukraine. It is intended to address issues related to military service.
The following can apply to the military ombudsman with a complaint:
- servicemen;
- reservists and conscripts during training camps;
- members of volunteer formations of territorial communities;
- persons voluntarily involved in the resistance movement in temporarily occupied territories;
- personnel of law enforcement agencies involved in direct participation in hostilities;
- representatives by proxy or legal representatives of persons covered by the law.
Complaints from servicemen: how to submit them correctly
Complaints can be individual or collective. They can be submitted orally or in writing. They can be sent by mail, fax, phone, or email.
Oral complaints are submitted during a personal appointment with the ombudsman or an employee of the Office's apparatus, or through technical means of electronic communications via designated contact centers, telephone "hotlines." Written complaints are submitted in any form.
The complaint must contain:
- surname, first name, patronymic;
- place of residence and/or email address and/or information about other technical means of electronic communications for communication with the complainant;
- the essence and content of the complaint;
- if the complaint is submitted by a representative of the complainant - documents confirming the authority to represent the person's interests;
- date of filing the complaint and signature.
The use of a qualified electronic signature when submitting a complaint is not required.
Two or more complaints submitted on the same issue are considered together.
The period for considering a complaint cannot exceed ten working days from the date of its receipt. However, a complaint may be considered within three days if the content of the complaint gives grounds to suspect potential harm to the complainant's life and health.
If, during the consideration of a complaint, signs of a criminal offense are found, the relevant law enforcement agencies are immediately notified, and if facts of corruption or corruption-related offenses are found, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention is also notified.
Anonymous complaints are not considered, except in cases where an anonymous complaint concerns a specific violation and contains factual data that can be verified.
Based on the results of the complaint's consideration, one of the following decisions is made:
- appointment of an inspection;
- referral of complaint materials for consideration by the appropriate authority;
- return of the complaint if it does not fall within the powers of the Ombudsman's Office.
The complainant is notified of the decision no later than three working days. The decision can be appealed.
Inspections are conducted by decision of the military ombudsman or one of his deputies, the procedure for which is approved by the ombudsman.
The grounds for appointing inspections are data indicating violations of the rights of military personnel, reservists, conscripts, and police officers, obtained from any sources, including in the appeal/request of a people's deputy, published in the media, etc.
The decision on the appointment of an inspection specifies:
- the subject and object of the inspection;
- the grounds for appointing the inspection;
- the start date of the inspection.
The period of the inspection cannot exceed 30 working days, but it can be extended for the same period if there are reasonable grounds.
During the inspection, the persons involved in it have the right to:
- interview and obtain information from those against whom the inspection is being conducted;
- request and receive information and documents related to the subject of the inspection, make (obtain) necessary copies of such documents;
- inspect the area, objects, premises, items, etc., related to the subject of the inspection.
Based on the results of the inspection, a conclusion is drawn, which states:
- information about the absence or presence of violations of the rights of military personnel, reservists, conscripts, and police officers;
- the essence of the violation;
- the commander, military command body, state authority, its official, whose actions and/or decisions led to the violation of rights;
- the causes and conditions that led to the violation of rights.
In particular, following the inspection, the issue of bringing the commander to disciplinary responsibility may be considered.
Protection of servicemen's rights: what guarantees does the law provide
According to the law "On Social and Legal Protection of Servicemen and Their Family Members," military personnel have the following rights:
Socio-economic:
- the right to adequate material, monetary, and other types of support in an amount corresponding to the conditions of military service, including the right to receive relocation assistance and daily allowances when moving to a new place of service;
- the right to social and professional adaptation;
- the right to health care, medical and socio-psychological assistance;
- the right to housing;
- the right to free travel;
- the right to exemption from penalties and fines for non-fulfillment of obligations;
- sanatorium-resort treatment;
- the right to free legal aid;
- the right to pension provision;
- the right of servicemen who are discharged from service to receive a one-time monetary allowance;
- the right to receive monetary assistance for health improvement and state assistance to families with children;
- the right to compensation for damages caused;
- the right to appeal unlawful decisions and actions;
- the right to obtain the status of a combatant;
- the right to childcare.
Political: the right to participate in elections and referendums, to create their public associations in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine.
Cultural:
- freedom of scientific, technical, and artistic creativity;
- the right to education (including postgraduate education) in military educational institutions, relevant units for training, retraining, and advanced training of servicemen.
Labor:
- the right to work and equal rights in the socio-economic sphere;
- restrictions on the dismissal of servicemen;
- reinstatement of servicemen in military service (position);
- the right to employment of servicemen after discharge from military service;
- the right to early discharge from military service;
- preferential right to conclude a contract for military service;
- the right to determine the duration of working hours and rest time;
- the right to leave.
Religious: the right to freedom of worldview and religion.
What problems are most often addressed
Military ombudsman Olha Reshetylova reported that the Office of the Military Ombudsman began its work in Ukraine on January 26.
"Like all government agencies, we operate under a limited budget. Therefore, we will not be able to recruit the maximum number of our staff. However, there is a lot of work. On Saturday and Sunday alone, we received over 320 appeals. Even before the Office started working, we received 120-130 appeals from servicemen and their families daily," Reshetylova said.
Reshetylova noted that among the appeals she received, the most common were - failure to refer for treatment after injuries, for urgent and planned operations, consequences of severe concussions, panic attacks, and acute post-traumatic stress disorders.
It is not difficult to understand that in such a state, the effectiveness of performing combat missions is low, and the mortality rate among servicemen due to diseases will increase. In addition, in the case of untreated mental disorder, a serviceman may pose a danger either to himself or to his comrades. However, it is clear from the appeals that not following the recommendations of medics, even of their own unit, is very often the commander's position. No individual approach and consideration. Servicemen suffer from illnesses for months and eventually very often simply go AWOL to get medical help
Also, according to her, another problem is transfers between military units.
Very often, commanders do not comply with the transfer order or deliberately transfer servicemen against their will to other positions, which complicates the execution of the order
In addition, another problem was the failure to reinstate after AWOL.
There are appeals from servicemen who, after returning from AWOL, have been in units for more than four months, but have not yet been reinstated in service, still do not receive monetary support, and are actually in a slave-like position in their units. The fact is that the State Bureau of Investigation delays the consideration of servicemen's petitions for reinstatement in military service, obtaining the necessary documents, processing and further submitting to the court petitions for exemption from criminal liability. Subsequently, even after the court issues a ruling on the closure of criminal proceedings and exemption from criminal liability, servicemen are not reinstated in military service, as there is no mechanism for such reinstatement. To solve this problem, changes to the Regulations on Military Service are needed. As far as I know, they are already being developed in the Armed Forces. Regarding changes to the provisions of other military formations, the issue is still open, we will find out