Smaller national minorities are once again facing a targeted erosion of their political rights in Ukraine with this introduction of the citizenship draft laws that aim to ban certain individuals from their citizenship rights. The Cultural Alliance of Hungarians in Sub-Carpathia (KMKSZ) and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Ukraine (UMDSZ) have released a joint statement to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in reaction to five draft laws [numbers 6368–6372] on citizenship submitted to the Rada on December 2, 2021. 

The statement condemns the bills on citizenship due to their violations of fundamental human rights, and recommends that the President of Ukraine withdraw these bills and remove them from the agenda. The letter signed by Dr. László Brenzovics and Dr. László Zubánics, respective presidents of the aforementioned organizations, stated the following, “Our organizations welcome Ukraine’s citizenship initiatives by the President of Ukraine to simplify the acquisition and preservation of Ukrainian citizenship. However, at the same time, we find it unacceptable that this liberalization should be accompanied by radical violations of political rights and loss of employment for multiple citizens living in Ukraine, effectively banning them from public affairs and excluding them from public life. We believe that the adoption of such legislation is incompatible with the principles of non-discrimination and of equal treatment in the constitution of Ukraine. By adopting such a regulation, Ukraine would fundamentally violate Articles 2 and 25 of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 14 of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocol No. 12 on the prohibition of discrimination.” 

Source: karpathir.com

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