Refining Legislative Initiatives and Taking Systematic Approach to the Rights of War-Affected People: Coalition of Human Rights Organization Publishes New Legislative Roadmap

The Coalition of organizations working to protect the rights of those affected by armed aggression against Ukraine – including East SOS – has prepared another legislative roadmap outlining draft laws related to protecting the rights of people affected by russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. Ahead of the sixteenth session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation, human rights organizations reviewed legislative initiatives concerning war-affected populations that require particular attention from the parliament. The Coalition’s member organizations recommend supporting some draft laws, revising others before adoption, and rejecting one draft law altogether.

The draft laws reviewed address the protection of children affected by hostilities and people deprived of their personal liberty as a result of russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine; internally displaced persons’ access to social guarantees and benefits; compensation for destroyed or damaged property; property rights; the inclusion of data on people from temporarily occupied territories (TOT) in official registers; and the renaming of geographical features.

The Coalition also called for draft laws that were removed from consideration following the change of government to be reintroduced, as well as for oversight of the implementation of laws affecting the rights of war-affected people. Representatives of the member organizations also stressed the importance of establishing a systematic legislative framework to address key issues arising from the consequences of the war.

The organizations’ representatives noted that several important draft laws protecting the rights of war-affected people were adopted during the previous, fifteenth session of the Verkhovna Rada. However, some were passed without taking concerns raised by human rights organizations into account. One example is the draft law on the mandatory evacuation of children from areas at risk of or experiencing hostilities, which, in the human rights organizations’ view, violates the rights of children and their families.

The full text of the legislative roadmap is available below.