STATEMENT
of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations
on the inadmissibility of equating same-sex cohabitation with family
The recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of Maimulakhin and Markiv v. Ukraine has triggered a new wave of discussion about the threats posed by legislative initiatives aimed at promoting unnatural sexual relations and granting the status of a family union to same-sex cohabitation. In its 2007 declaration, the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations has already substantiated its attitude to the phenomenon of homosexuality and so-called same-sex marriage.
It is important to remember that the ECHR decisions cannot serve as a basis for changing the constitutional foundations of a state. Neither the European Court nor the Council of Europe has the authority to change the legislation of any state. Although the aforementioned ECHR judgment is binding regarding financial compensation, it doesn't oblige Ukraine to change its legislation, contrary to the existing Constitution. Currently, Ukraine is fighting at a significant cost for its sovereignty and the right of the Ukrainian people to independently determine their fundamental values and the principles of domestic policy in family and demography.
The staggering number of cases pending before the ECHR involving Ukrainians (over 10,000 applications) demonstrates the serious problems our state faces. The vast majority of them (about 9,000 applications) are related to human rights violations in the occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea, resulting from Russia's aggression. At the same time, about 95% of the remaining cases against Ukraine relate to the non-enforcement of court decisions, which indicates systemic problems in our state's justice system. Therefore, the lack of independent and fair judicial proceedings is the biggest problem in the field of human rights in Ukraine, as the UCCRO has repeatedly emphasized.
We understand that international institutions and foreign partners, using our state's vulnerability and difficult situation, may try to force Ukraine to make legislative changes to abandon its family principles. However, Ukraine lives in a continental system of law, where the fundamental principles of life are determined by the Constitution and laws, not by court decisions. No matter how much supporters of gender ideology would like to use the ECHR decision and external influences to rewrite the Constitution of Ukraine and destroy the value of the family based on marriage between a man and a woman, only the people of Ukraine have the sovereign right to decide on such issues.
Initiatives to equate same-sex cohabitation with family (formally legalizing so-called same-sex partnerships, effectively equating them to marriage, and granting them adoption rights) are extremely dangerous during the current demographic crisis in Ukraine, which is catastrophically exacerbated by the ongoing war. According to new research, as of May 2023, Ukraine's resident population is only 29 million. Russian aggression has led to 8.6 million Ukrainians leaving and not returning to their homeland, which threatens to lack human resources for the post-war restoration of our country and the revival of the Ukrainian nation.
The Ukrainian state can't ignore this demographic problem and can't accept external pressure aimed at undermining the family values of our people. We must preserve our nation and provide the best possible upbringing for Ukrainian children, including orphans, in the bosom of a loving family with both father and mother present.
It is important to emphasize that Ukraine differs from Russia and its genocidal ideology of the "Russkiy Mir" (Russian World) in that Ukrainian people have demonstrated their respect for universal religious and family values not with empty words but with sacrificial deeds. For our people, a human being is the highest value; every family and child is a treasure we are all trying to protect and save in times of war.
Contrary to the claims of those who lobby for unacceptable legislative changes, several issues that regulate certain aspects of human relations are already addressed in Ukrainian law (for example, the right to visit a patient, the right of inheritance, etc.) and do not require the adoption of a fundamentally new, ideologically motivated law.
Given this, we call on the President, the Cabinet of Ministers, and the Parliament of Ukraine not to adopt any legislative changes aimed at granting family status to same-sex cohabitation (formalizing the so-called same-sex partnerships). We call on every government official and parliamentarian to stand by the side of the Ukrainian people, for whom family is a fundamental value in life.