On March, 28 the Chief Consultant of the Department of the Legal Analysis of the Mission Ruslan Seidametov participated in the meeting of working group held in the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons “On implementation of the simplifying procedure of birth and death certification in the occupied territories of Ukraine”
In the cause of the meeting it was discussed the proposals of the Members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union on implementation of the single administrative procedure of establishing the facts of birth or death in the occupied territories of Ukraine in order to provide the state registration of civil acts which is supposed the recognition by the state authorities of so-called “certificates” issued by the occupying “authorities. The position of the representative of the civil organization “Donbas SOS” was similar to the position of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union on implementation the single administrative procedure, the same position was also launched by the other members of the working group, from among the representatives of the state authorities.
It was observed that the Mission found unacceptable the recognition by the Ukrainian governmental bodies of so-called “birth and death certificates” issued by the illegal authorities and which are valid in the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula and can be used for the state civil registration. Such position is contrary to the article 9 of the Law of Ukraine “On ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens and legal regime in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine” and is actually a step towards a recognition the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation by the governmental bodies of Ukraine.
“The birth and death certificates” got by the citizens from the illegal authorities is considered to be legally incorrect and could be taken into consideration only as a proof in matters of birth or death, in the light of international jurisprudence, particularly by the UN International Court but not as a legal instruments. The administrative procedures of recognition of such “certificates” by civil registry authorities under the lack of a single register system of birth and death certificates for the TOT is at a considerable corruption risks according to the Ministry’s of Justice of Ukraine perspective.
The Mission is actively engaged into improvement of the current procedures of registration of the birth and death certificates in the TOT of Ukraine. The Mission has submitted to the President, as a subject of legislative initiatives, for consideration the Drafts Laws of Ukraine on the simplification of determining the jurisdiction of the death matters in the TOT, on the simplification of marriage registration for the citizens residing in the TOT, and giving such persons the free secondary legal assistance in cases involving the Russian aggression and occupation.
The Mission is developing the proposals on stuffing and organizational improvement of the courts, advocates and notaries bodies of Kherson region as region with a high register amount of civil certification in the TOT of Ukraine. The above-mentioned issue will be extra developed by the Working group of the Mission at the meetings with the participation of the current authorities’ bodies of Kherson.