Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his wife Anna Hakobyan met with a group of former servicemen who became disabled during the 44-day war in Jermuk. The Prime Minister and Mrs. Hakobyan first had breakfast with them, then the meeting continued in a formal format.

Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan, Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan, representatives from other state bodies also participated in the meeting.

The Prime Minister noted that today's meeting was organized according to the agreement reached back in September, in order to discuss the issues raised by those injured and disabled during military service.

"Of course, we could have organized it in Yerevan, but we especially wanted to have the meeting here, even though it is associated with inconveniences, first, to emphasize that according to our perception and our policy, people with disabilities should not have mobility problems. Second, you know that we are starting an annual festival of original songs in Jermuk from this year, the first year may not be entirely original songs, but in the following years we will focus more on original songs. And because it's such a great event, we wanted you to be a part of it. I learned that there are people who have not been to Jermuk. It is also a good opportunity to be in Jermuk.

Of course, our focus has always been on the issues related to the social guarantees of our brothers and sisters who died or became disabled during military service, and their families. If you remember, in 2019 we made a decision and expanded the scope of beneficiaries of the "Zinapah" fund, that is, we went back to the events that happened after January 1, 2008. We had a decision that we should continue in that direction, but then the 44-day war happened and we realized at least for a moment that we need to stop to understand how we are addressing the issues to ensure proper budgeting and proper management. Of course, after 2020, we made legislative changes aimed at ensuring the revenues of the "Zinapah" fund to be able to address all our obligations," said the Prime Minister.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, the next stage, which brought forth a certain agenda, was related to the reforms related to the evaluation of the person's functionality. "The key essence of those reforms was that we evaluate disability through functionality, that is, what functions a person can do and what functions he cannot do. This is the international best practice, and understandably this experience is perceived negatively in many cases, but in my opinion, it is a very positive thing, because the previous traditional disability policies lead a person to isolation. In other words, we create all the motives for a person to isolate himself and for others to think that he is isolated. That is, there is a life that other people live, and there is a life that people with disabilities live. No matter how hard it may be to break out of this stereotype, we are determined to break out of this stereotype. And we say no, there is no such thing. In today's world, especially, these restrictions have been significantly limited, which does not mean that we say that there are no restrictions. Of course, there are restrictions.

Maybe I'm repeating, but I think it's the clearest example that can be given. I'm talking about Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, who was confined to a wheelchair for 70 percent of his life and scientific activity, unable to move or speak. And he is considered one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. We must have this example before us. Not only in relation to military service, but in general, this should be our motive.

Our athletes with disabilities won 38 medals this year, but I also remember that in one of the Olympic Games, a runner who was deprived of two legs, who had prostheses, did not participate in the Paralympic Games, but participated in the Olympic Games according to the usual procedure”, the Prime Minister noted.

Nikol Pashinyan added that in connection with the latest reforms, after listening to the disabled boys, they came to the following conclusion. "That conclusion is that in the way we have set our system of the person's functionality, we should continue to work like that, but now, taking into account this situation, we have come to the following decision. When the beneficiaries of the "Zinapah" fund became beneficiaries in whatever status, that is, they had disability of first group, regardless of the future change in their disability group, they will benefit from these social guarantees, that is, roughly speaking, they will receive the same amount which they received when they were considered to have the first group of disabilities. The group can change from first to second or third, but there will be no change in this part, that is, they will receive their initial money for 20 years.

The second change is as follows. Our partners have informed us that we have the opportunity to increase the payments to our brothers with disabilities by up to 23 percent. I think this is a decision that satisfies all of us, that is, we continue our reforms in relation to the assessment of the person's functionality. In that sense, nothing changes, it will always continue to work, but the beneficiaries of the "Zinapah" fund, our brothers and sisters with disabilities, in whatever status became beneficiaries of the "Zinapah" fund for the first time, in the event of a change in the status of disability, the social guarantees will be preserved and there will be a certain increase, already up to 23 percent.

But, in general, our policy, our goal is to provide, to help, to support that each of you fully integrates, returns, or enters, or continues a full life. What do we mean? We mean that we have to support you, and you, in our opinion, should set that task in front of you to get a full education, to be fully involved in work," said the Prime Minister, adding that there may also be prospective business plans.

"So our general policy is the following: we want your life to be as full as possible under these circumstances, because in that sense, it's clear that many people have all sorts of limitations. One part is visible, the other part is not visible: some have health problems, others psychological problems, which should not be separated. That is, they are things that cannot be seen. And we should encourage everyone that we are one community and we have one common problem within our community, that is to ensure the development of our country, and we should invest our full potential and use it for the development of our country. For that, it is important that there are proper conditions for education, proper conditions for work and, of course, that our compatriots in special social groups also have the opportunity to fully benefit from our policies," stressed Nikol Pashinyan.

The Prime Minister added that "Zinapah" Foundation and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs are closely cooperating and the topical issues will be discussed in the future and appropriate solutions will be given.

Next, the Prime Minister and the representatives of the departments in-charge answered the questions of the former servicemen with disabilities and gave relevant clarifications.

The questions were related to the processes of defining the disability group and changing the group, social guarantees given to persons with disabilities. A number of issues related to the organization of the prosthetics process, social inclusion of persons with disabilities, organization of education, employment provision were also addressed. The works carried out in the direction of solving the problems of persons with disabilities and the upcoming tasks were presented.