Specific provisions of the draft new Civil Code pose a serious threat to human rights, gender equality, and Ukraine’s European integration path.
Discriminatory norms prevent courts from recognizing family relationships between same-sex partners. This overturns established court practice and eliminates the only legal mechanism that has allowed partners to partially protect their property, social, and personal rights. In effect, the state is proposing a return to the full legal invisibility of LGBTIQ+ families.
Equally dangerous is the proposal to allow marriage from the age of 14 in cases of pregnancy or childbirth. This legalizes child marriage, contradicts the principle of the best interests of the child, increases the risks of violence, exploitation, and school dropout—especially for girls—and entrenches coercion instead of support.
The draft completely ignores Ukraine’s international obligations within the EU integration process. The proposed changes contradict the European Convention on Human Rights, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the requirements of EU negotiating Chapter 23, the Rule of Law Roadmap, the positions of the European Commission and the European Parliament, as well as the Copenhagen criteria on human rights protection.
The Ukrainian Feminist Network demands the removal of these provisions and a transparent public revision of the draft law in line with human rights standards, gender equality, and Ukraine’s course toward EU membership.