Draft law to protect the right of children to a safe information environment

On 20 June 2011 six Ukrainian MPs, covering all the main political
parties (They represent the following parties/blocks: Communist party,
“Our Ukraine People's Self-Defense” block, Yulia Tymoshenko block,
Party of Regions, “Reforms for the Future” block) tabled a draft law
entitled "On amendments to some legislative acts (to protect the right
of children to a safe information environment)”.

The Explanatory Note accompanying the draft law gives the rationale
for the proposal as follows:

“The draft law ….. is designed to strengthen protection from
homosexual propaganda in Ukraine and establish the legal framework for
the prosecution of violations of the laws which protect public order
and morality in Ukrainian society.

The spread of homosexuality is a threat to national security, as it
leads to an epidemic of HIV / AIDS, destroys the institution of the
family and can cause a demographic crisis.”

Although the title of the draft law emphasises the supposed threat to
children, this is largely ignored in the Explanatory Note.

The objective of the proposal is described as follows:

“The draft law is needed to establish liability for actions that
promote sexual relations between persons of the same sex, through
abuse of the freedom of print media or the use of broadcasting to
promote homosexuality.”

The draft law seeks to achieve this objective through amendments to
five laws addressing three distinct areas, protection of public
morals, regulation of the media/publishing, and the criminal code. In
each case this is done through simply adding either the promotion of
homosexuality or the production/distribution of products which promote
homosexuality to the list of prohibited activities in the legislation.

The criminal code carries penalties ranging from a fine to 5 years’
imprisonment for the breaching the relevant provision. The other laws
on public morality and regulating the media/publishing make provision
for various forms of sanction against the entity concerned, or refer
to the possibility of administrative or criminal sanctions under other
legislation.

In the uncertain state of politics in Ukraine it is not possible to
say how much support the draft law will receive. It will be
considered first by the Parliamentary Committee on freedom of speech
and information, and by the Scientific and Expert Department of the
Parliament. It would then go to a first hearing, probably in the
autumn of this year.