Committee on Social Policy and Protection of Veterans’ Rights votes for draft law which needed revision

Human rights activists criticized draft law No. 10256 “On registration of persons whose life and health were harmed as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine”, which the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Social Policy and Protection of Veterans’ Rights voted for yesterday, December 5. Human rights defenders sent their position to the Committee ahead of the vote. 

Illustrative image / Reuters

In particular, it is said in the analysis by human rights organizations that the purpose of the draft law – the creation of the Register of Victims – is unclear in terms of its alignment with the creation of the Register of Damage at the level of the Council of Europe, which is the first step towards an international compensation mechanism. 

In addition, the draft law proposes to create the Register of Victims without any mention of the fact that there are already several registers that contain information about groups of victims by the end of 2023. Also, human rights defenders doubt that the state will be able to effectively compensate victims for damage to life and health because the proposed list of relevant cases is very broad. 

“It seems that the draft law actually provides that the state will record an inexhaustible list of non-property damage without a general vision of how to compensate for this damage and who has the right to immediate reparations,” human rights defenders note. 

For more information on why this draft law had to be revised, see the link.