Protecting human rights is not a matter of choice, but a duty of the state. For more than two years, our Gender Stream team has been actively advocating for draft law 5488 to protect the rights of LGBTQI+ citizens in Ukraine.
Every day is a new step in this fight, bringing us closer to justice, equality and safety for all.
What have we achieved?
Forum “Combating discrimination and hate crimes: European standards for human rights protection”
In October, in partnership with the Council of Europe, we organised a forum where parliamentarians, government officials, representatives of human rights organisations and international partners discussed strategic steps towards the adoption of draft law 5488.
Raising awareness and support from government officials strengthened cooperation towards the adoption of draft law 5488. The Forum was a powerful step forward.
‘Draft Law 5488 is the state’s response to the public demand for justice. It is a signal that hate crimes will not go unpunished.’ – Olha Polyakova, Executive Director of Gender Stream.
‘This is one of the few government draft laws that has broad support in society. It is a priority initiative for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.’ – Kateryna Pavlichenko, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
International support:
We worked with representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of Europe.
This resulted in key points being included in EU reports on anti-discrimination legislation and international support for Draft Law 5488.
Together with partner organisations, we wrote to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. We wrote a letter stressing the importance of implementing effective human rights legislation for Ukraine and the EU.
Ursula von der Leyen expressed her support for our work on the adoption of the draft law. The response was swift and clear: draft law 5488 is of strategic importance for ensuring human rights and equality in Ukraine, the European Commission will insist on ensuring LGBTQI+ equality in the political dialogue and will support measures to combat violence, hatred and discrimination.
Working with the National Police:
Through our cooperation with law enforcement officials and LGBTQI+ organisations, we helped to ensure the safety of Pride marches.
We also organised a trip for police and LGBT military representatives to exchange experiences on security and protection of LGBTQI+ rights in Sweden.
This was the next step in strengthening cooperation with law enforcement.
Establishment of the working group:
We initiated the establishment of the Working Group on the Prevention of Hate Crimes. The group brought together civil society organisations, law enforcement and government agencies to strengthen the safety of LGBTQI+ people.
VARTOVI platform:
In December, we launched an innovative platform to monitor and combat hate crimes against LGBTQI+ people. Our team provides legal and case support and helps police identify and record such crimes.
We continue to move forward and focus our efforts on tackling hate crime.
In times of challenge and turbulence, we must ensure that the rights and freedoms of all citizens are protected, lest we lose our democracy and the values on which our nation is founded.
Our task is not just to talk about change, but to deliver it. There is still a lot of work to be done and we will continue to fight until Draft Law 5488 is adopted.
We call on the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to urgently adopt Draft Law 5488, which will provide real protection for all Ukrainian citizens from discrimination and hate crimes.
It’s time to act – we look forward to your support!