On April 28, the Verkhovna Rada approved alternative draft No. 15150 of the new Civil Code of Ukraine in its first reading. Following this, civil society organizations advocating for LGBTQ+ rights announced plans to organize protests.
The press service of the Verkhovna Rada announced the bill’s adoption.
254 members of parliament voted in favor of the document, two voted against, five abstained, and another 45 did not vote.
The Verkhovna Rada noted that the aim of the bill is to recodify and systematically update private law by adopting a new Civil Code as a comprehensive and harmonized codified act. The document is 803 pages long and is based on the current Civil Code, the Family Code of Ukraine, and the Law “On International Private Law.”
According to Deutsche Welle, the draft provides for a number of changes, including the expansion of personal rights for individuals, new approaches to liability in civil law, the legal regime of marital property, inheritance of the right to reparations and digital assets, as well as a will regarding the disposition of reproductive biological material.
Document No. 15150 was submitted as an alternative following criticism of the previous draft, No. 14394. At the same time, the National LGBTI Consortium stated that there are no substantial changes in the new version.
The consortium noted that the draft, as before, effectively excludes same-sex couples from the scope of family law and transgender people from existing marital relationships at the legal level.
Following the vote, a number of civil society organizations, including “Military LGBT+,” announced protests across Ukraine on May 17. Activists believe the document contradicts the European Convention on Human Rights, the practice of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and EU requirements within the human rights negotiation process.
“European institutions explicitly demand legal recognition and protection for same-sex couples. This is stipulated by ECHR rulings, Ukraine’s obligations within the framework of European integration, and the rule of law roadmap. Our elected representatives have decided to ignore all of this,” reads a joint statement by four civil society organizations.
The organizations also stated that they have prepared 75 pages of amendments to the code and plan to initiate a meeting with Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk to discuss them.