Is Ukraine's draft civil code a rights rollback?

Proposed overhaul would restrict women's divorce rights, limit same-sex recognition and lower marriage age for minors.

Ukraine's proposed new Civil Code, legal experts and civil society groups warn the sweeping legislative overhaul would curtail the rights of women, children and LGBQTI+ people at a moment when Kyiv is seeking closer integration with the European Union.

The draft code, which has been in development for six years and consolidates civil, family and private international law into a single document of nearly 2,000 articles, would reintroduce restrictions on a woman's right to divorce during pregnancy or within a year of childbirth — a provision that was removed from Ukrainian law in 2024 following pressure from human rights organisations.

"If we're talking about European integration, changes to legislation should improve the situation and account for modern circumstances, not complicate people's lives," said Oksana Huz, a legal analyst who reviewed the draft. "The attempt to intervene more deeply in the private life of two people appears entirely unjustified."

The proposed code would also narrow access to assisted reproductive technologies, limiting their use to cases with defined medical indications. Critics say this creates a legal hierarchy problem. As a code, it would take precedence over existing ministerial orders from Ukraine's health ministry, which currently allow single women to pursue donor insemination without a strict medical justification. Advocates warn the change could effectively strip single women of that right.

Among the provisions drawing the most sustained criticism is a clause that would allow girls as young as 14 to marry if pregnant or having given birth — a significant departure from Ukraine's current minimum marriage age of 18, with court-sanctioned exceptions from 16. Legal experts say the provision risks providing cover for statutory rape by enabling older men to avoid criminal liability.

"Fourteen years old is a child," said Ms Huz. "She cannot fully bear responsibility for her decisions or give informed consent. This is not a situation that should be normalised or entrenched in legislation."

The draft code also raises concerns for Ukraine's LGBTQI+ community. Under current judicial practice, courts have begun recognising cohabiting same-sex couples as constituting a family unit. The new code would effectively foreclose that possibility, cutting off legal protections around shared property, inheritance rights and medical decision-making for partners.

The development puts the government in an awkward position vis-à-vis its EU membership ambitions. Ukraine's association agreement with the bloc includes an explicit commitment to introduce legislation on registered civil partnerships. A separate bill on the matter has already been drafted, but critics question whether the Civil Code, if passed in its current form, would render it moot.

"Ukraine says: 'We have drafted it,'" said Ms Huz. "But the question is not just about drafting — it is about adoption. If the state makes such commitments in its roadmap and then effectively buries them in the Civil Code, one must ask how seriously our legislators intend to pursue EU membership."

The draft is expected to undergo further parliamentary scrutiny before any vote.

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