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February 7, 2024
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February 7, 2024The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has passed in the first reading a government bill aimed at tightening mobilization in the country.
The vote count was 243 in favor.
The day before, the bill was approved for the first reading by the Committee on National Security and Defense. The document was presented to the deputies by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov.
Here are the main provisions of the bill:
- The key point is the introduction of electronic summonses. It will be considered delivered once it appears in the electronic account, which all military conscripts must create within 60 days from the date of entry into force of the law. This provision has already been criticized by individual MPs and the ombudsman.
- All sanctions imposed for failure to appear according to a summons in the previous bill remain. However, the difference now is that these sanctions can be imposed not directly by the military commissariat but by the court upon the application of territorial conscription centers. These sanctions include blocking the accounts of draft evaders, prohibiting the use of a car, and traveling abroad. The bill also complicates the process of obtaining consular services abroad, which will be provided only upon presentation of a military ID. This provision has also sparked controversy in Ukraine.
- Postponement from mobilization will be revoked for those obtaining a second higher education. It will also be removed from postgraduate students studying under a contract. Previously convicted individuals for non-serious crimes will also be subject to mobilization.
- Military conscripts will need to present their military ID with a note of deregistration when traveling abroad.
- Hospital directors will be obliged to inform territorial conscription centers about the stay of individuals aged 18-25 in hospitals.
- The mobilization age is reduced from 27 to 25 years.
- Demobilization of servicemen is planned after 36 months of service. However, it will only be implemented by order of the supreme commander-in-chief. Therefore, the actual demobilization periods may vary.
In the anti-corruption committee of the Verkhovna Rada, their objections to the bill were voiced today, leading to its classification on Monday as “posing corruption risks.” Among the key provisions that the committee calls for changing for the second reading, MP Anastasiya Radina names:
- Demobilization: there is a need to define a clear deadline and conditions under which soldiers are effectively demobilized. Currently, the bill provides that after 36 months of service during wartime, a soldier has the right to submit a demobilization report – however, the deadline for processing this report is absent. “This could lead to selective application and, overall, unfairness.”
- Postponement from conscription due to caring for a disabled person: there is a need to clearly establish the principle of “one person with a disability of groups I or II – deferment for one caregiver.” “This can and should be monitored by registry software for conscripts, but not by ‘nightmare’ of disabled individuals with additional requirements for certificates of constant care (in unclear procedures) and the like.”
- Responsibility for failure to register the electronic account of a military conscript, failure to appear at the territorial conscription center according to a summons, etc.: “A fair mechanism for identifying violators should be established to move away from the selective application of sanctions to some individuals and ‘overlooking’ others.”