On the 6th of June, 2019, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled the decision recognizing separate provisions of the laws of Ukraine “On Corruption Prevention” and “Amending Certain Laws of Ukraine on Specifics of Financial Control of Separate Categories of the Officials” as not complying with the Constitution of Ukraine.

UHHRU Lawyers in cooperation with the expert of the Council of Europe Jeremy McBride provided their legal position on this issue in response to the request of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

https://helsinki.org.ua/articles/pravova-pozytsiya-uhspl-schodo-zobov-yazan-antykoruptsijnyh-aktyvistiv-deklaruvaty-svoje-majno-ta-statky-chleniv-rodyny-narivni-z-derzhsluzhbovtsyamy/

We would like to remind that constitutional proceedings were initiated by the Ukrainian MPs and Commissioner for Human Rights in Ukrainian Parliament.

According to the disputed provisions, anti-corruption public activists and investigative journalists were given the same status as the civil servants and thus were obliged to declare their own income and income of the family members.

After the detailed analysis of these provisions, UHHRU experts concluded that disputed provisions violated the non-discrimination principle, and also right to privacy and family life and freedom of expression.

Obligation of the anti-corruption activists and investigative journalists to declare income has no objective or rational justification and is discriminatory, as such provisions extend the obligation of the civil servants to the separate category of individuals. More so, such obligation and envisaged sanctions for incompliance can be viewed as “deterrent effect” in the activities of the public activists regarding freedom of expression. When adopting disputed provisions, the lawmakers did not provide any justifications of the need for amending the legislation.

We consider that recognizing such provisions as unconstitutional complies with the international standards of human rights protection.

You can read the full text of UHHRU legal position here https://helsinki.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/20181103_KSU_Amykus-2-21.pdf

Photo Council of Europe