Law on Multiple Citizenship: Human Rights Defenders Warn of Threats and Ask the President to Veto It
Draft law No. 11469, which aims to reform approaches to acquiring and maintaining Ukrainian citizenship, has caused mixed reactions in society. Despite the fact that on June 18, the Verkhovna Rada voted for it in the second reading, a number of public organizations expressed serious reservations. In particular, human rights defenders believe that the adopted norms carry risks both for the institution of citizenship in general and for specific vulnerable groups of persons. These organizations appealed to the President of Ukraine not to sign the adopted document and to return it to the parliament for revision.
The essence of the adopted law and key innovations
On June 18, the parliament adopted the Law “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Ensuring the Right to Acquire and Preserve Ukrainian Citizenship” (registration number 11469). Formally, the document declares the improvement of the citizenship system and adaptation to new challenges, in particular to the needs of the Ukrainian diaspora and military personnel in foreign armies.
However, the text of the law also includes new mechanisms, which experts say can make life difficult for many people. Human rights activists point out that the introduced provisions potentially affect the interests of stateless persons, those living in temporarily occupied territories, as well as refugees, asylum seekers, persons with additional forms of protection, and even their children. According to the Coalition of Human Rights Organizations, the adopted version may not only complicate the procedures for documenting such people, but may also create additional risks of losing existing citizenship.
Criticism from human rights defenders
In his open address, made public Center for Human Rights Zmina, human rights organizations claim that the provisions of the adopted law may lead to unacceptable restrictions on the exercise of basic rights. These are articles that potentially complicate the documentation of Ukrainian citizens who do not have a complete package of documents — in particular, persons from temporarily occupied territories, where the processes of issuing official Ukrainian documents are significantly complicated or blocked altogether. This may jeopardize the realization of the right to citizenship for thousands of Ukrainians, including children born in non-controlled territories.
“We are talking about stateless persons, undocumented citizens of Ukraine from the temporarily occupied territories, refugees, protection seekers, persons in need of additional protection, and their children. The law contains norms that may complicate the documentation of these persons, and also creates additional grounds for loss of citizenship — in particular, for residents of the occupied territories.” – says the appeal of human rights defenders.
Separate criticism was caused by the rule that allows a person to be deprived of citizenship in case of committing certain criminal crimes. From the point of view of human rights defenders, this provision contradicts the current Constitution of Ukraine, which clearly states that a citizen cannot be deprived of citizenship at the initiative of the state. They also emphasize that this practice violates the fundamental principles of international law, including the European Convention on Human Rights.
Human rights organizations indicate that during the consideration of the draft law in the parliament, they repeatedly addressed the deputies with specific comments. Some of them were taken into account, but the key proposals related to the protection of the rights of vulnerable categories of persons and the prevention of loss of citizenship without court decisions were ignored. They believe that without revision, the law does not meet the basic standards in the field of human rights.
Appeal to the President: the veto as a safeguard against violation of rights
In connection with the considerations outlined above, human rights organizations publicly appealed to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi with a request not to sign Law No. 11469. The appeal emphasizes that only the use of the veto will make it possible to protect citizens from discriminatory consequences and preserve the compliance of Ukraine’s legislation with its international obligations in the field of human rights.
According to the authors of the appeal, the return of the draft law for revision is necessary in order to avoid negative consequences that may have a long-term nature. They insist that the reform of the institution of citizenship should not be carried out by restricting the rights of certain categories of persons, in particular those who have already suffered the negative impact of armed aggression against Ukraine.
