On June 5, a working group of the nation’s parliament committee on
human rights gathered to discuss the new bill On Freedom of Peaceful
Assembly. Despite sharp criticism from the civil society organization For Peaceful Assembly! and some
opposition deputies, the draft bill received approval from representatives of the parliament committee,
the Interior Ministry, as well as the High Administrative Court and
Justice Ministry. This means it will now
end up in the session hall and is well on its way to adoption.
But the new bill contains very similar norms as the previous
controversial one on the same issue. There were two attempts to vote
on it, in 2010 and 2012, and both times the vote was fiercely opposed
by civic organizations.
Thousands of
activists in all regions of Ukraine protested, which forced parliament to remove the bill from the agenda. The law had also been
negatively assessed by the Venice Commission, the advisory
body of the Council of Europe on legal and
constitutional issues.
Yet
the authorities have failed to draw any conclusions from that
experience, and transferred all the threatening clauses into the new
draft.
The following are the key clauses:
1. Article 7 contains a requirement to inform the authorities about
plans to conduct peaceful assembly 48 hours in advance.
In Ukrainian reality, it means that if the gathering is inconvenient
for the government, it will be easily banned through court in two
days. If organizers insist on conducting a peaceful gathering,
they will face criminal responsibility under Ukraine’s law, for
failing to obey a court order.
The organizers will have to pay a fine of Hr 8,500 to Hr 17,000 (that’s
in a country where an average salary is Hr 3,500, and a student’s stipend is Hr 700-1,000), or go to prison for three years.
2. Article 15 contains a ban on spontaneous peaceful assemblies. The
article says organizers have to “urgently” inform an interior
ministry department and local authorities about the date, time
and place of the gathering, as well as its purpose. This article
effectively cancels the very notion of spontaneous assembly.
3. The bill has a whole series of limitations and bans on conducting
peaceful gatherings. They are listed in article 17.
4. The bill contains references to a number of existing laws that
limit the right for peaceful assembly and need to be taken out of
Ukraine’s legal database.
5. In his address to parliament this week, President Viktor
Yanukovych called on lawmakers to adopt this law. Previously, the
law had been endorsed by Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko.
None of these officials are known for their positive human rights
record.
Ukraine’s initiative For Peaceful Protest! is categorically against
this bill. If it ends on the agenda, activists of over 120 civic
organizations will start mass protests across Ukraine against this
law.
The initiative demands that the parliament’s committee on human
rights, national minorities and international relations:
Pull out of this bill the norms that limit the right for peaceful
assembly, and bring it in line with the Constitution of Ukraine an
the European Convention on Human Rights.
Make changes to the existing legislation, including the Code of
Administrative violations, the law on local governance and a
number of other laws.
We also call on
international organizations and embassies to support ouк initiatives
with their own appeals to the relevant committee of the Verkhovna
Rada.
Oleksandra
Skyba is information director for the All-Ukrainian civil society organization Institute Republic and a member of the secretariat of
the national initiative For Peaceful Assembly!
