Draft laws that should protect victims of war: which of them should be adopted, and which pose risks

On February 6, on the day of the start of the XI session of the Verkhovna Rada, the coalition of organisations dealing with issues of protection of the rights of victims of armed aggression against Ukraine presented a road map of draft laws to protect the rights of war victims. Human rights defenders draw the authorities’ attention to the fact that some of the registered draft laws pose risks, so they should be revised or rejected.

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Among the draft laws that are in the “green” part of the map, i.e. supported by human rights defenders, there is project No. 9069, which simplifies the procedure for establishing the facts of marriage or dissolution of marriage in the occupied territories. Also, the draft law will allow state registration of acts of civil status registered on the territory of other states for citizens of Ukraine. Registration will also be possible on the basis of notifications from the competent authorities of foreign countries with which Ukraine has concluded relevant international treaties.

In the “yellow” part of the document, human rights defenders indicated draft laws that should be finalised before adoption. Among them is project No. 10256 “On Recording Persons Whose Life and Health Have Been Harmed Due To Armed Aggression of Russian Federation Against Ukraine”.

According to human rights defenders, this project provides for the creation of the State Register of persons harmed due to the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. At the same time, the regulations do not include compensation tools, including immediate reparations. The draft law offers a tool for accounting for damage to life and health, but does not address it.

“The list of cases in which damage to life and health occurs is very broad, which raises doubts about the possibility of proper accounting and the prospect of compensation. It is also unclear how the purpose of the draft law is consistent with the process of creation at the level of the Council of Europe of the Register of damages caused by the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which is the first step towards an international compensation mechanism,” human rights defenders point out in the analysis.

In addition, representatives of human rights organisations drew attention to draft law No. 10355 should be rejected. According to the analysis of human rights defenders, the project will bring changes according to which the payment of pensions to those convicted of crimes against the foundations of national security, public safety, peace, security of humanity, and international legal order for the time of serving the sentence will be minimal. Such changes will also apply to persons who are suspected or accused of committing such criminal offences.

“The proposed changes are more than controversial for the stated purpose, and also contain signs that indicate a violation of the fundamental principles of the Constitution of Ukraine. If the draft law is adopted in its current version, there is a high probability of an appeal, in particular to the European Court of Human Rights,” human rights defenders believe.

Also, in the road map of draft laws, human rights activists called on the parliament to become more open to the media and society, since with the beginning of a full-scale war, participation in the sessions of the Verkhovna Rada or specialised committees for the public is limited. The full position can be found here.

The road map can be found here.

For information: The Coalition of organisations dealing with the protection of the rights of victims of armed aggression against Ukraine includes Human Rights Centre ZMINA, NGO “Donbas SOS”, NGO “CrimeaSOS”, Charitable Fund “Right to Protection”, Charitable Foundation “EAST-SOS”, NGO “Civil Holding GROUP OF INFLUENCE”, Charitable Foundation “Stabilization Support Services”, The Crimean Human Rights Group.