Military Ombudsman's Office drafts bill to narrow deferment for caregivers

Tightening criteria for obtaining deferment

Legislative changes are being prepared in Ukraine that will significantly restrict the right to deferment from mobilisation for family members of people with disabilities. This was announced by former Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada Lyudmyla Denysova.

According to her, the Military Ombudsman's Office has processed the relevant bill, which provides for a significant narrowing of existing grounds for obtaining deferment.

What will change for parents and spouses

According to the proposals, deferment will be cancelled for parents in cases where there is one child with a disability in the family and both parents are alive. In addition, spouses and adult children of disabled persons of Groups I and II are planned to be granted deferment only on the condition that they provide constant care for them.

It is also envisaged to strengthen requirements for relatives caring for seriously ill people, as well as to exclude certain categories of close relatives from the list of persons entitled to deferment.

Justification of the initiative and reaction of MPs

The Military Ombudsman's Office explains this initiative by the need to «уніфікувати законодавство та боротися з ухиленням від мобілізації» ("unify legislation and combat evasion of mobilisation").

MP Buzhansky, commenting on this bill, stated that the Verkhovna Rada will not support these changes.