Removal of the petition to defend traditional family values is a breach of freedom of consciousness, lawyers claim

The petition to protect traditional family values, supported by various churches and religious organizations, which has already been signed by more than 23 thousand people, was deleted from the President of Ukraine’s website. This was notices yesterday morning, March 28, by public activists.

Viktor Tantsura, the petition author, received a copy of a letter from the Presidential Administration stating that the representative of the Ombudsperson for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on human rights, non-discrimination and gender equality, Aksana Filipyshyn, stood against this petition. She demanded this petition was no longer public, seeing it as an “appeals to human rights restrictions and signs of incitement to restriction on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity (belonging to the LGBT community) and leads to a violation of the right of LGBT people to respect dignity.” The administration made a decision to satisfy the request and withdrew the publication of the said electronic petition on the website of the official Internet representation of the President of Ukraine.

In this regard, an active debate broke out in social networks and appeals were made to picket the Administration with a requirement to take into account the rights of believers.

“The essence of the problem is very simple: Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including the right to hold opinions, receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authorities and regardless of frontiers” (Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights) - emphasizes the executive director of the Institute of Religious Freedom Maxym Vasin.

"If certain citizens of Ukraine are not allowed to express their point of view on certain social phenomena and legislative process, this is a violation of their right to freedom of expression and, in particular, their discrimination. It turns out that adherents of gender ideology enjoy this right without interference, and citizens with conservative views on state family policy are subject to limitations in expressing their position. No equality, no pluralism - this is not democracy and not human rights, but something else,” the expert notes.

“The letter from the Presidential Administration regarding the removal of petition No. 22/042484-ep on the cessation of propaganda of homosexuality and the protection of traditional family values ​​is illegal and worthless,” said Serhiy Gula, a lawyer, chairman of the National Movement “No bribery: I do not give or take bribes.”

He gives 5 points to confirm his opinion.

"1. One person's allegation of violation of their rights or non-evidence of discrimination is unfounded and cannot be satisfied - this is a common jurisprudence.

2. The fact of violation of rights is established exclusively by the court - it is the exclusive competence of the court, and not of an official from the Presidential Administration.

3. Actions to remove the petition on the request of one person based on non-demonstrable violation of their rights, alleviates the very idea of ​​petitions, because it is possible to remove any petition for simple unproved claim of one person. For example, a person who advocates the free circulation of weapons creates a respective petition. The petition is gathering 23 thousand signatories, and I, with my convictions, write a letter to the Presidential Administration asking for this petition to be removed, because it violates my right to life safety. And the petition should be removed - with such logic, we will reach marasmus!

4. Each petition, before being placed on the website of the President, is screened by the administration's staff, and therefore it was at this stage that it should have been removed, rather than at the stage when the petition was left to collect about 2 thousand signatories.

5. The actions of a specific official from the Presidential Administration must be qualified as arbitrariness and exceeding the limits of his competence and those that violate the rights of more than 22 thousand people to appeal to the President of Ukraine.

And finally, regarding the legislative restrictions on the placement of petitions, in accordance with Art. 23 with the mark 1 "On Citizens' Appeal" An electronic petition cannot contain appeals to overthrow the constitutional order, violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine, containing propaganda of war, violence, cruelty, incitement to interethnic, racial, religious hatred, appeals to commit terrorist acts, encroachment upon rights and human freedom. The petition No. 22/042484-ep did not violate any of the aforesaid!” Serhiy Gula emphasized.