The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine calls on the Verkhovna Rada to provide internally displaced persons (IDPs) with the opportunity to vote in the upcoming local elections. The UNHR urges parliament to take steps to provide IDPs and labor migrants with the opportunity to vote in local elections scheduled for 2020, mission head Matilda Bogner said at a press conference, presenting “Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine 16 May to 15 August 2019” in Kyiv on Tuesday.
She noted that the Monitoring Mission would monitor developments around the Electoral Code, which President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky vetoed, giving Parliament 30 days to amend the document.
Bogner emphasized the need to solve the problem of paying pensions to residents of temporarily uncontrolled territories of Donbas. She said pensions should be paid to everyone who is entitled to them, regardless of their place of residence, adding this is an urgent recommendation, hoping that the new government will consider it one of the priorities.
In addition, the Mission notes that it is necessary to find a mechanism for paying off pension arrears.
At the same time, the UN Mission considers the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers to compensate families whose homes were destroyed as a result of the conflict in Donbas a positive sign. However, it has concerns about a number of issues, in particular, the condition that applicants for compensation should live in the same village where the destroyed housing is located, as well as the fact that funds for these needs will be provided for in the budget after 2020.
As reported, on July 15, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine established a mechanism for monetary compensation for private housing destroyed as a result of Russian armed aggression in eastern Ukraine.
The Verkhovna Rada has adopted as a basis and as a whole bill No. 1082 on the joint transit regime and the introduction of a national electronic transit system, which provides for a mechanism for the exchange of customs information with 35 countries.
According to a correspondent of the Interfax-Ukraine agency, 333 MPs supported draft law No. 1082 at a plenary meeting on September 12 with the quorum being 226 votes.
“This system provides that our customs will see the entire history of movement of goods that is in those countries and transfer its data to them. The bill provides for the functioning of this system in a test mode for about a year. Then it will be tested by our European partners, and after that we will join an agreement on joint transit,” Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the parliamentary committee on finance, taxation and customs policy, has said.
Head of the State Customs Service Maksym Nefyodov, in turn, said that “this is a simple beautiful story of customs visa-free travel that will allow Ukrainian players to leave Ukraine and travel to Portugal with one truck with one document, with one guarantee.”
In his opinion, it will make Ukrainian goods cheaper for Ukrainian consumers.
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has voted in favor of bill No. 7203 amending Article 80 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which envisages lifting parliamentary immunity from 2020. An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that 373 MPs backed the decision at a plenary session of parliament on Tuesday. It requires at least 300 for the final approval of the constitutional changes, according to the law.
The Verkhovna Rada has approved the schedule of the second session of the 9th convocation. Some 278 deputies voted for corresponding draft resolution (No. 1087) at a plenary meeting.
“This project proposes to start the second session of the IX convocation on September 3 and finish its work on January 24, 2020,” said Serhiy Kalchenko, a representative of the parliament’s committee on regulatory issues, introducing the draft resolution.
According to him, the schedule provides for 10 plenary weeks, six weeks of work in committees, commissions, parliamentary factions, and five weeks for working with voters, as well as eight hours of questions for the government.
According to the constitution, the next session of the Verkhovna Rada opens on the first Tuesday of September.
The candidate for the post of chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) of the ninth convocation from the Servant of the People faction, Dmytro Razumkov, has stated one of the tasks would be to achieve economic growth in Ukraine at the level of 5-7% next year. “Launching the mechanism of a rapid economic growth. Our goal is the economic growth of 5% to 7% as early as next year. In addition, this should be growth not only on paper, in statistics, but also consistent with what people feel every day in their life,” Razumkov said at a plenary meeting before voting for his appointment as chairman of parliament.
He also announced the need for deregulation, legalizing capital.
He also announced the task of optimizing the functionality of state bodies, eliminating duplication of their functions.
At the same time, he emphasized that one of the tasks would be to create conditions for fair and independent justice.
Parliamentarian from the Servant of the People Party Dmytro Razumkov has been elected chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of the 9th convocation.
Some 382 deputies voted for him at a plenary meeting of the first session of the newly elected parliament on Thursday, an Interfax-Ukraine agency correspondent reported.
The European Solidarity faction voted against – 26 deputies.
