The Bill (Reg. No.1317) was introduced by The President of Ukraine as urgent, and for immediate consideration by The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,
The Bill aims to lay down a legal basis for the organisation and operation of Ukraine´s National Guard, its general structure, functions and authorities. The Document proposes to regulate the major tasks, rights and obligations of the personnel of Ukraine´s National Guard at the current stage, the matters of its social protection, use of physical power, specialised hardware, firearms and special equipment, as defined in separate legal rules.
The Committee reacted to this Bill with several varied comments:
Olexander Kuzmuk, Chairman of The State Defence Sub-committee, said that the Bill should be cohesive and correspond to Part Four of Clause 17 of The Constitution of Ukraine, to the effect that no-one may use The Armed Forces of Ukraine and other Military units to restrict the rights and freedoms of citizens, or for the purpose of deposing the Constitutional Regime, for the removal of Executive Authorities or preventing them from carrying out their activities.
He said that since an official interpretation of this provision is absent, it may be understood in two ways: that the said Military units may not, in principle, be used for the above-mentioned purposes;
that the above requirement is a personified notion, i.e. no-one ( neither The President of Ukraine, nor The Prime Minister of Ukraine) may use the said Military units contrary to their purpose as laid down in the Law.
O. Kuzmuk feels that the legal status of Ukraine´s National Guard requires a more clear-cut definition, and namely it should be stated that this is a Military unit intended to fulfil the tasks listed in this Law, to eliminate duplicating the provisions in the first and the second Clauses.
Committee Members expressed their doubts as to the need of charging these military units with tasks connected with the execution of criminal sanctions and Court security, which, according to the Law, are incumbent on the Police. The above requires an appropriate adjustment, both in the Bill, and in the organisational structure of the Police and the National Guard.
The People´s Deputies also noted the absence in the Bill of any referrals to the role of Parliament in maintaining a Democratic civil control of Ukraine´s National Guard activities. They recommend that an innovation must be included concerning the decision making on the appointment/dismissal of Ukraine´s National Guard Commander through the National Security Committee in Parliament.
In the outcome of these discussions it was resolved that the decision on this Bill will be adopted at the next Committee Meeting, to be held on 23 January.