Meeting with Stefanchuk in Lviv sparked student protest: what is known

In Lviv, students protested against limited access to the “Parliamentary Dialogue” event with the participation of the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk. The meeting was planned to discuss the updated draft of the Civil Code, however, according to the participants of the action, most of those who wanted to were unable to get inside.

This was stated by protest participants, in particular students of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and the Ukrainian Catholic University.

The event was announced as a dialogue between the authorities and the public. However, people who came to the discussion were told that only representatives of the “personal press” and students whose names are on the lists could get inside.

It is currently unknown who compiled these lists and what criteria were used to select participants.

Because of this, students of LNU and UCU staged a protest. They were outraged that the discussion of important changes to the legislation was taking place without the participation of all interested parties.

One of the participants of the action, a representative of the public organization “Feminist Workshop” Kateryna, said that she could not find information about registration or accreditation of journalists in advance. According to her, she was able to find out the place and time of the meeting only the evening before.

The students also wanted to ask government officials about civil partnerships and human rights protection. However, they said they were not given the opportunity to ask these questions.

The updated draft Civil Code itself has previously drawn criticism for a number of provisions. In particular, civil society activists have expressed concerns about possible restrictions on freedom of speech, changes in property issues, and protection of the rights of women and LGBTIQ people.

Following criticism, the authors revised some of the norms, in particular regarding women’s rights and alimony payments. At the same time, public representatives insist on further revision of the document, especially on issues of civil partnerships and freedom of speech.