CoE Senior Project Officer: Ukraine should shift focus from social benefits to social services

"If we do not change the system radically, we will not change anything for the future. We will only keep amassing our debts and it is impossible to estimate how huge these debts will be and whether then everyone will be able to get the social security they are entitled to. Thus, the social security system should be shifted from a focus on social benefits to a focus on social services which should be provided to all people in difficult life situations," Siuzanna Mnatsakanian, Council of Europe’s Senior Officer for the Project "Promoting social human rights as a key factor of sustainable democracy in Ukraine" said at the All-Ukrainian Forum "Ukraine 30. Humanitarian Policy", an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

She stressed that Ukraine should primarily pay attention to giving people the opportunity to earn a decent living.

The Senior Project Officer noted that the state began to take care of this issue much more actively. Mnatsakanian also noted that Ukraine had made significant progress in reforming labor rights and social security over the past few years but much remained to be done, including in job creation and fight against poverty.

As reported, the increase in subsistence level in Ukraine on July 1 resulted in bigger one-time benefits financed by the Social Insurance Fund of Ukraine.

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