Гендерна дискримінація

On five occasions from 2007 to 2013, the applicant's ex-husband inflicted injuries on the applicant, which the domestic authorities classified as minor bodily injuries. The police and the prosecutor's office repeatedly refused to open criminal proceedings due to the lack of evidence. In 2012, the offender was convicted of committing a crime under Article 125 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (intentional minor bodily injury) because criminal liability for domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) was not legislated until 2017 in Ukraine.

LGBTIQ people make up approximately 2-10% of the population today. However, Ukrainian legislation does not regulate relations of same-sex couples that de facto have all the elements of a stable and long-term family relationship. Part 1, Article 21 of the Family Code of Ukraine defines marriage as a family union between a woman and a man registered in the State Register of Vital Records, which means that it is currently impossible to register marriage of same-sex partners in Ukraine.

By signing the Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, Ukraine accepted the commitment to ratify several EU anti-discrimination directives on equal treatment for men and women concerning access to, and provision of, goods and services; gender equality in balancing professional and family responsibilities; gender-based discrimination, etc. The report (“Analytical research 'Gender discrimination in access to work and services: assessment of the state of implementation of anti-discrimination measures by Ukraine EU Council Directive”) consists of two parts.

The case was initiated by three male applicants, who complained that the Criminal Executive Code of Ukraine, which regulates the procedure and conditions for the executing and serving criminal sentences, contained contradictory provisions and differing visitation rights  for male and female life prisoners. The Code provided that life prisoners were to serve their sentences in maximum-security correctional colonies and that life prisoners were entitled to one short visit every six months. No reference to prisoners’ gender was made in the relevant Articles.

This report by LGBT Human Rights Center “Our World” contains a comprehensive analysis of the situation of the LGBTQ community in various spheres of social life, including relations with state and law enforcement agencies, the church, and the general public. The experts also investigated violations committed by the occupation authorities. The authors draw attention to legislative shortcomings in Ukraine in terms of regulating the status of LGBTQ communities.

The applicant was a single mother of two children. As part of a social program, she was provided a flat. Later, the prosecutor applied to the courts to terminate the applicant's right to the flat, due to the applicant's conviction and sentence in Russia, which prevented her from using the housing for about a year. The court of first instance found against the applicant, who then appealed on the basis that she had paid all the necessary payments and had nowhere else to live.

The Electoral Code of Ukraine establishes the rights of citizens to participate in elections, and governs preparation and procedures for elections to state and local authorities.  The Electoral Code establishes: any direct or indirect privileges or restrictions on the voting rights of Ukrainian citizens based on sex or other grounds are prohibited.

The applicant intended to change her patronymic (this term means a part of a personal name was traditionally derived from the name of the father of the person concerned) to disassociate herself from her biological father and associate herself more closely with her stepfather and half-brother. Despite the fact that the woman successfully changed her surname to the surname of her stepfather, she was not allowed to change her patronymic.

The study includes a survey, with the majority of respondents believing that women can command combat units, and that they have a harder time building a career compared to men. At the same time, prejudicial views regarding women in the armed forces still remain in society: more than 50% think that women are better off performing non-combat roles, and 40% believe that women in the military have more problems in their family life compared to civilian women. Women often face biased treatment in the form of being patronized and protected.

The study was prepared based on the results of a survey conducted among women that were subjected to domestic violence, as well as on a qualitative analysis of Ukrainian legislation.