Please send letter to support LGBT rights in Ukraine

Dear Supporters of LGBT Rights,

I am writing to you to ask for your attention and support – because LGBT human rights are now under serious renewed threat in Ukraine at this watershed moment.

As you undoubtedly recall, following the historic uprising here known as ‘Euromaidan’ – the mass public protests in 2014 against pro-Russian politicians and resulting in the celebrated ‘Revolution of Dignity’ – the Ukrainian people made its final choice for integration with modern Europe. This choice was and is even more crucial for the LGBTI community throughout the nation because it ‘opened the door’ at last for positive changes in state policy towards the LGBTI community. We were so inspired, and encouraged by supporters also uplifted by events!

In 2015 the President of Ukraine adopted the planful National Human Rights Strategy. The same year, the Ukrainian government adopted the Action Plan on the Strategy’s Implementation until 2020. In particular the NHRS includes development of legislation on combating hate crimes on various grounds, including SOGI (required to have been implemented in 2016) – and the working out of legislation on registered partnership for same-sex couples (required to have been implemented in 2017).

Unfortunately, up till now the responsible Ukrainian authorities have not achieved any demonstrable progress in realizing these important, accepted, and obligatory tasks.

Moreover, shortly the Ukrainian government is going to so-called ‘update’ the Human Rights Action Plan which – if adopted – will exclude any real steps in favour of improving LGBTI community members’ rights (for additional information please see Annex). Proposed changes either cross out explicit mention of SOGI from state obligations (hate crime legislation), or outright exclude some components from NHRS (development and adoption non-discrimination policy in government institutions) and/or even propose additional options for discrimination.

In this crucial watershed moment we address all of you supporters – please support our demand to the Ukrainian government officials – for them not to renege on their already previously acknowledged obligations to promote LGBTI rights aligning with the National Human Rights Strategy. A huge regressive misstep backward from the people’s hard-won national pro-European position must be prevented by united action now.   Timely modernization is overdue and LGBTI citizens are suffering for it.

Please send your letters of protest to:

Pavlo Petrenko
The Minister of Justice of Ukraine
13 Horodetskogo Str., Kyiv, 01001, Ukraine

E-mail list: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

NB: Please feel free to consider / use draft text of letter to Ukrainian authorities.

We’ll highly appreciate your financial support, please click DONATION
Thank you for your valued support and cooperation.

Sincerely yours,

Andriy Maymulakhin
Coordinator

LGBT Human Rights NASH MIR Center
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel./fax: +380 44 296-34-24
Postal address: P.O. Box 173, Kyiv, 02100, UKRAINE
Website: www.gay.org.ua
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nashmircenter