Statement of Nash Svit Center regarding the draft of the new Civil Code (Code of Private Law) of Ukraine (Bill 14394)
The draft of the new Civil Code (Code of Private Law) of Ukraine, initiated by a group of MPs led by the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk (Bill 14394), declares its aim to “promote Ukraine’s integration into the European Union, modernize national legislation, and develop private law in accordance with the challenges of the future” but in practice it contradicts the stated goals, directly violating current European legislation and policy on protection of LGBTQ people’s rights and ignoring the realities of modern European society.
Article 1474 of Book 6 of the Code “Family Law” defines a “de facto family union” as the cohabitation of two persons of different sex living as one family without registering a marriage, provided that neither of them is married to another person. This means that the draft new code deprives same-sex couples of even those few rights that are present in the current legislation of Ukraine, denying them recognition as family members, which directly contradicts the provisions of Article 22 of the Constitution of Ukraine: “When adopting new laws or amending existing laws, the content and scope of existing rights and freedoms shall not be narrowed.”
This contradicts the recognition as family members of same-sex partners (persons who live as a family but are not married to each other or to another person, provided that this fact is established by a court decision that has entered into legal force), which is contained in a number of Ukrainian laws, granting such persons certain rights — in particular, the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, Article 3 (the right not to testify against a family member or close relative); Civil Protection Code, Article 118-1, Laws “On Social and Legal Protection of Military Personnel and Members of Their Families,” Article 16-1, “On the National Police,” Article 98, “On a One-Time Money Assistance for Damage to Life and Health Caused to Employees of Critical Infrastructure Facilities, Civil Servants, and Local Government Officials as a Result of the Russian Federation’s Military Aggression against Ukraine,” Article 1 (the right to receive a one-time money assistance in the event of the death of a military or relevant serviceperson. This list is not exhaustive.
We would like to draw your attention to the fact that such legislative proposals directly and blatantly contradict the current legislation and policy of the European Union regarding the recognition and protection of family rights of same-sex partners, in particular the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Maymulakhin and Markiv v. Ukraine, the decisions of the European Court of Justice in the cases of Coman and Others v Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrări and Ministerul Afacerilor Interne, Jakub Cupriak-Trojan and Mateusz Trojan v Wojewoda Mazowiecki, V.M.A. v. Stolichna obshtina, rayon “Pancharevo”.
The European Commission, in its annual reports on Ukraine’s progress within the Enlargement Package, has repeatedly pointed out the need to address this issue, remove discriminatory norms against same-sex partners from Ukrainian legislation, and introduce legislative protection for their rights.
The Ukrainian government recognizes its obligation to eliminate violations of same-sex partners’ rights, as indicated in the ECtHR judgment in the case of Maymulakhin and Markiv v. Ukraine, by introducing registered civil partnership available to same-sex couples, which would grant them the basic rights of family members and close relatives. The corresponding action was included in the Roadmap on the Rule of Law, Section 3.11 “Discrimination against LGBTIQ community members.” Relevant legislative proposals have been developed and submitted for consideration by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Bills 9103 and 12252). However, the proposed draft Civil Code directly contradicts these documents and makes it impossible to adopt them and implement the relevant paragraph of the Roadmap. It does not bring Ukrainian legislation closer but demonstratively distances it from the modern legal standards and policies of the European Union.
Nash Svit Center calls on the Ukrainian government, European institutions, and international partners of our country to do everything possible to correct the situation and ensure that Ukraine complies with its constitutional and international obligations to protect human rights without discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. Ukraine must demonstrate its readiness to live by the modern standards of the European Union, and not to promote the principles on which the Russian World is built.
