Bill aimed to equalize all warfare participants in their rights under consideration in dedicated parliamentary committee

Draft law #6202 on amending the Law of Ukraine “On the Status of War Veterans and Guarantees of their Social Protection” is under consideration of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) Committee on Affairs of Veterans, Warfare Participants, Anti-Terrorist Operation Participants and People with Disabilities. Once it is processed by the Committee and put on the VR session agenda, it will be introduced to lawmakers for consideration at a plenary sitting, Committee Chairman Oleksandr Tretyakov wrote in a letter to Spravedlivist movement leader Valentyn Nalyvaychenko.

The letter was received in reply to an appeal that had expressed support to the bill and demanded to urgently pass it. The appeal, signed by the leaders of Spravedlivist, the Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital and quite a number of civil society organizations, had been sent to the Parliament on June 30, 2017, the next day after Nalyvaychenko and PFVMH President Gennadiy Druzenko held a joint news conference. The letter also mentions that the Committee has considered the appeal.

Bill #6202, initiated by a group of MPs, was registered with the Verkhovna Rada on March 16, 2017 and four days later handed to lawmakers for familiarization. Its text had been drafted by the PFVMH in collaboration with the Ombudswoman’s office.

Amendments proposed for the Law “On the Status of War Veterans and Guarantees of their Social Protection” aim to make all warfare participants equal in their rights. The existing language of the law recognizes volunteers as warfare participants only provided that their volunteer units have been eventually included in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Interior Ministry, National Guard of Ukraine, etc.

The bill drafting followed another joint news conference of Druzenko and Nalyvaychenko, held on Feb. 20, 2016.