Gun rights, collection of genetic information, and permission for pregnant women to divorce

The Russian threat actualized the issue of gun rights. In addition, MPs want to ban movies and music during bus rides and to make it easier for pregnant women to divorce

Gun rights for civilians

Draft bill # 5708 of June 25, 2021

Status: first reading. MPs still have an opportunity to amend the draft bill.

Who is affected: Ukrainian citizens, foreigners, legal entities, law enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, notaries, military veterans and former law enforcement officers with government-issued firearms.

Summary of the bill:

• grants the right to own firearms to legal entities and individuals with proper gun owner certificates
• proposes the following regulations for individuals:
  • will not have the right to own automatic firearms
  • the right to own long-barreled firearms will have only individuals of the full legal age after proper training
  • only judges, prosecutors, police officers, lawyers, detectives, notaries, journalists, etc. will be allowed to own smoothbore and short-barreled firearms
  • only individuals over 25 will be allowed to own combination weapons and long-barreled rifled firearms
  • all individuals will be allowed to buy ammo only for firearms allowed by gun owner certificates
• denies individuals the right to buy firearms in the following cases:
  • they have medical contraindicates
  • they have an unspent offense or were held liable less than a year ago for certain types of crimes or administrative offenses
  • the court has stripped them from the right to own firearms.
• bans from civil circulation the following types of firearms:
  • made from materials undetectable with metal detectors
  • remade from other types of weapons or firearms and having new characteristics as a result
  • remade to be less identifiable
  • revolvers, etc.
• creates the Register of civilian firearms:
  • the Cabinet will approve a provision on its maintenance, structure, information requirements, and access procedure
  • the Ministry of Internal Affairs will maintain the Register.

What is right:

• Ukrainian citizens will be able to exercise their right to self-defense. Gun rights will also deter some of the potential crimes
• if Russia scales up its aggression against Ukraine, Ukrainian citizens will be able to reinforce their country’s defense.

What is wrong: free access to guns for civilians can cause an increase in the number of violent crimes involving guns.

Collection of genetic information

Draft bill # 4265 of October 26, 2020

Status: second-round first reading. MPs have already tried to amend the draft bill.

Who is affected: detectives, prosecutors, judges, criminals, suspects, and service members.

Summary of the bill:

• introduces mandatory state registration of genetic information:
  • from persons convicted for intentional crimes against life, health, freedom, honor, dignity, sexual freedom, or personal security
  • from persons under pretrial detention suspected of grave or especially grave criminal offenses
  • from unidentified materials found on a crime scene
  • from unidentified human bodies, body parts, and remains
  • from missing persons
• genetic information will be collected from service members if they give their written consent for collecting samples and sign a personal information processing form
• genetic information will be collected to identify persons that committed criminal offenses or have gone missing, to identify human bodies or body parts
• the database will be maintained by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and administered by the science and research center under the Ministry of Internal Affairs
• the Cabinet will define the following protocols:
  • state registration of genetic information and its processing
  • storage and removal of genetic information by the database administrator
  • procedure for accessing genetic information and its usage.

What is right:

• the ministry is collecting genetic information since 2009 (by its own decision). It has accumulated over 34 thousand DNA profiles by now. In 2020, this information was used to identify over 300 persons involved in criminal activities
• detectives will be able to investigate some crimes more quickly by checking information stored in the database
• in comparison to the first version of the bill, this version provides better security of personal data.

What is wrong:

• collection of genetic information from suspects is a tool easy to abuse. Innocent people can be accused of committing crimes just to collect their biological materials.
• there is no need to collect genetic information from people guilty of incitement to suicide, patient rights violations, coercion to marriage, failure to assist persons in mortal danger, child exploitation, etc. since these are petty offenses or misdemeanors. It is impossible to justify why genetic information has to be collected in these cases
• the Cabinet can abuse its new powers since there is a huge space for discretion here
• the body responsible for the collection of genetic materials is also often responsible for investigation: the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This leads to a conflict of interests and possible power abuse
• many risks of authorities abusing their powers from the original version of the draft bill have not been mitigated.

Permission for pregnant women to divorce

Draft bill # 5492 of May 14, 2021

Status: first reading. MPs still have an opportunity to amend the draft bill.

Who is affected: families with infants under one year of age, pregnant women, their husbands, and judges.

Summary of the bill:

Allows judges:

• to dissolve the marriage even in cases where the wife is pregnant or the family has an infant under one year of age
• not to resort to reconciliation measures if the cause for divorce involves domestic violence.

Why this is important: currently, courts are not allowed to dissolve the marriage if the wife is pregnant or the family has an infant under one year of age even if both parents want a divorce. Moreover, often judges do not dissolve marriages even in cases involving domestic violence.

What is right:

• removes artificial prohibition to divorce for families where both parents want a divorce, protects families, and prevents domestic violence. The state should create additional mechanisms to prevent domestic violence, not encourage it.

Ban on “acoustic violence”

Draft bill # 3006 of February 4, 2020

Status: first reading. MPs still have an opportunity to amend the draft bill.

Who is affected: bus drivers and passengers.

Summary of the bill:

• grants bus drivers the right not to board passengers that make noise in a passenger compartment using technical devices
• forbids bus drivers to turn on music, movies, or other acoustic signals. Drivers will be allowed to announce only information about the ride
• forbids taxi drivers to turn on music or other acoustic signals without consent from all passengers.

What is right:

• passengers will not be forced to listen to favorite music or watch favorite movies of their driver, passengers will not have to quarrel over music tastes
• the bill will facilitate inner peace and understanding between passengers and drivers.