By KYIV. Dec 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – A group of MPs proposes to the Verkhovna Rada to determine the legal and organizational basis for the application of the norms of international humanitarian law in Ukraine (IHL), including regarding the burial of enemies killed in Ukraine.
Corresponding bill No. 8268 has been registered in Parliament.
The document proposes to systematize the activities of state bodies on the application of IHL. In particular, the initiators of the draft law consider it necessary to identify an authorized ministry that ensures the formation of state policy in the field of compliance with IHL norms, as well as to clarify the status of the National Information Bureau.
At the same time, the bill provides for the establishment of the institution of the Commissioner for Compliance with International Humanitarian Law.
MPs also propose to consolidate the status and features of the activities of the Temporary Special Commission of the Verkhovna Rada on the Application and observance of international humanitarian law. According to the bill, this Commission is created from among parliamentarians no later than the second session of the Verkhovna Rada of each convocation during the armed conflict and temporary occupation.
The purpose of its activity is to prepare documents related to the implementation of IHL, and parliamentary control over its compliance. The powers of the commission are terminated after the end of the armed conflict and temporary occupation by the decision of the Verkhovna Rada on the proposal of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada.
In addition, the bill stipulates the specifics of the burial of enemies of Ukraine. The enemies of Ukraine are proposed to identify combatants and non-combatants of the enemy side who died (were killed) on the territory of Ukraine, including while in captivity, who were not transferred to the state to which they belong, in accordance with the procedure established by law and need burial.
The military cemetery of the enemies of Ukraine is proposed to be created taking into account Ukraine’s observance of the principle of humanism and the norms of the Geneva Conventions on the Protection of War Victims of August 12, 1949 on the right of the deceased to decent burial places, the arrangement and maintenance of which should be properly provided. The location of such a cemetery, according to the bill, should be determined by the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, as well as the order of burial of enemies of Ukraine as a whole.
Oleksandr Bakumov, Maria Mezentseva (both from the Servant of the People faction), Mykhailo Tsymbaliuk (Batkivschyna faction), Volodymyr Areshonkov (Dovira group), and Andriy Osadchuk (Holos faction) are among the authors of the bill.
