Deprivation of state awards

Procedure for deprivation of state awards

Draft bill #8407-2 of February 10, 2023

Sponsor: the Cabinet.

Who is affected: the President, the Office of the President of Ukraine, members of the National Security and Defense Council, and persons awarded with state awards

Summary of the bill:

• the President will have the power to take back state awards from a person who committed a grave or severe offense or a person under sanctions imposed by Ukraine
• a decision to take back state awards will be one of the sanctions that can be imposed against a

What is wrong:

• the Cabinet proposed almost nothing new. Even now, the President has the power to take back state awards by imposing sanctions or if a person is found guilty of a severe offense
• imposition of sanctions is a political, not legal decision. In addition, a country cannot impose sanctions against its own citizens, so it will be impossible to take back state awards from a Ukrainian citizen who has not committed a severe offense
• according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, the bill is supposed to allow to strip Yuriy Boyko of the Hero of Ukraine title. However, the proposed changes do not solve this problem since the Cabinet has not offered any new grounds for depriving Yuriy Boyko of the state award. Therefore, the arguments presented in the Cabinet’s response to the petition are still relevant.

Alternative solution: to implement a mechanism that will allow depriving of state awards collaborators, traitors, and supporters of the aggression against Ukraine, both alive and dead.