Donbas: to defend impossible to lose. Rada, put the coma correctly!

The Draft Law 7163 was submitted to the Parliament by the President of Ukraine as urgent. The Parliament voted the Draft in the first reading in the beginning of October 2017. According to the explanatory note, the Draft Law is aimed at creating a new legal basis for repelling hostile aggression of the Russian Federation in Donbas, and in the long term prospective – for restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine within an internationally recognized border. We believe that it is necessary to adopt the law regulating the issues of the implementation of state sovereignty of Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and guaranteeing the realization of the rights and freedoms of persons residing there. However it is worrying that, current Draft Law is adopted with numerous violations of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Ukraine, without consideration of alternatives and public discussion of the main provisions of the future law, without involvement of representatives of civil society And MPs of Ukraine who submitted numerous corrections to the bill for such a discussion. Moreover, during the revision of the Draft Law before the second reading by the Committee on National Security and Defense, the text was substantially amended by the Working group, which did not include representatives of public, humanitarian and international organizations. Currently certain draft law provisions are of serious concern, since, if they are adopted, it will lead to a significant deterioration of the situation regarding the protection of human rights and freedoms not only in the conflict zone, but also throughout Ukraine.