Ukraine’s Parliament not supports ban on LGBT discrimination within ‘visa-free package’
The Parliament of Ukraine did not support the amendment to the Labour Code of Ukraine prohibiting employment discrimination. The introduction of this provision has been necessary for establishing the visa-free regime with the EU.
As the “Yevropeiska Pravda” (European Truth) Ukrainian media outlet reports, only 117 MPs supported the provision with the minimum necessary number of 226 votes.
The draft Labour Code, which was considered by the lawmakers, did not include the necessary provisions on employment discrimination on various grounds, including sexual orientation. The Parliament’s speaker proposed that the MPs should confirm “the possibility of considering this amendment” in preparing the draft Labour Code for the second reading.
The amendment prohibits “any employment discrimination, inter alia, violation of the principle of equal rights and opportunities, direct or indirect restriction of rights, on grounds of skin color, political, religious and other beliefs, gender identity and sexual orientation.”
The disapproving exclamations of the lawmakers were heard when the last words of the amendment were read out. As a result, this proposal was not supported.
At the same time, the MPs voted to adopt the new Labour Code, which does not include sexual orientation in the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination. This proposal was supported by 258 MPs.
As known, the introduction of the provisions on combating discrimination based on sexual orientation is one of the points of the Action Plan on Visa Liberalization to introduce the visa-free regime with the EU.
