Zelensky responded to the petition on civil partnerships

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to the petition on “registered partnerships for same-sex and opposite-sex couples”. The petition calls for the adoption of draft law No. 9103 “On the Institute of Registered Partnerships”, submitted to the parliament by People’s Deputy Inna Sovsun. The appeal received 25,000 votes in April 2023 – now it has been considered by the head of state. “Overcoming difficult challenges, the Ukrainian state consciously chose to move towards European standards, the basis of which are the three fundamental values ​​of the Council of Europe – democracy, the rule of law and human rights. European law is based on the fact that respect and protection of fundamental human rights (primarily the right to life, freedom, personal security, the prohibition of torture, the right to respect for private and family life, the prohibition of discrimination) is the main duty of the state,” said Zelensky’s answer. At the same time, the president noted that “the effective implementation of European human rights standards requires a proper understanding of their principles and doctrinal approaches” – both on the part of public authorities and on the part of society. Illustrative photo: NewAfrica/Depositphotos “While considering the petition on same-sex marriage last summer, I emphasized the fact that according to the Constitution of Ukraine, marriage is based on the free consent of a woman and a man (Article 51). In conditions of war or a state of emergency, the Constitution of Ukraine cannot be amended (Article 157 of the Constitution of Ukraine). Therefore, I turned to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with a proposal to work out the issue of introducing the institute of registered civil partnership,” the president writes. The Government instructed the Ministry of Justice to develop and submit to the Cabinet of Ministers a draft law on “elimination of discriminatory provisions” that may violate the property and non-property rights of unmarried partners, and the introduction of the institution of registered civil partnership. “The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine is currently working on the comprehensive legislative introduction of the institution of civil partnership with the determination of the legal basis, procedure and consequences of its state registration, as well as the legal status and personal non-property and property rights and obligations of partners, taking into account the peculiarities of already existing legal institutions”, – replied Zelensky. Draft Law No. 9103 “On the Institute of Registered Partnerships” is currently being considered by the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy. Zelenskyy says that comments and suggestions from specialized committees and authorized state authorities have been made to a number of provisions of this draft law. These provisions need to be revised in order to ensure the effectiveness of the functioning of the relevant institute. The only body of legislative power in Ukraine is the Parliament – Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Decisions of the Verkhovna Rada are adopted exclusively at its plenary sessions by voting, which is carried out by the People’s Deputy in person. Therefore, Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada with a request to “consider the issue raised in the electronic petition.” “In view of the fact that, in accordance with Article 116 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine takes measures to ensure the rights and freedoms of a person and a citizen, I have addressed a similar letter to the Prime Minister of Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada will be informed about the results of consideration of the issues raised by the author of the electronic petition The Council of Ukraine and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine,” answered the president. Read also: “Same-sex marriages” and registered civil partnerships. Why there won’t be one in Ukraine and how it is planned to implement the other We will remind, the petition to the president for registered partnerships gathered 25 thousand signatures in April this year. The authors of the appeal believe that currently “couples who do not want or cannot formalize marriage do not have the opportunity to obtain the same rights as married people.” In this context, LGBT servicemen are mentioned. The signatories call to support draft law No. 9103 “On the Institute of Registered Partnerships”, which was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada by People’s Deputy Inna Sovsun. The draft law, which will allow the registration of same-sex marriages, received different reviews. The Parliamentary Committee on Youth and Sports supported this draft law and recommended it for approval in the first reading. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine opposed the draft law. In particular, some proposals in the draft law contradict the Law “On the Statute of the Internal Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”. The MOU also noted that they do not have data on the number of LGBT representatives in the army. “The information about thousands of servicemen who cannot officially formalize their relationships with same-sex partners, set out in the explanatory note to the draft law, needs additional study due to the lack of relevant data in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine,” the ministry said. Earlier, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine opposed the creation of the “registered partnerships” institute. The Holy Synod of the OCU declared that the initiative violates the norms of the Constitution of Ukraine regarding the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Read also: “Destruction of national values”: Lutsk deputies opposed partnerships for LGBT people

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