Constitutional Court strikes down internal passport system (11/25/01)

Constitutional Court strikes down internal passport system

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukraine's Constitutional Court announced on November 20 that it had struck down a law on internal residency requirements - a relic of the Soviet era still - and officially abolished the right of the government to regulate the place of residency of Ukrainian citizens.

The court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to retain the authority to approve or reject individual citizens' desires to move their place of residency and require that all changes of address be registered with the ministry.

The old law not only forced Ukrainian citizens to receive approval for a change of residence but made it impossible for an individual to obtain a job or receive medical services in a place other than where he was registered. It also required that citizens vote only where they were registered, regardless of where they actually resided.

Oleksander Lavrynovych, a former member of the Verkhovna Rada who was recently named state secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers, organized the successful effort to have the law struck down by judicial review while still a national deputy. He said that such a ruling was overdue.

"We have built a democratic country in which the essential rights of citizens are protected, and whatever laws still violate [those rights] must be put aside," explained Mr. Lavrynovych.

The Constitutional Court, which had made the decision during a closed session on November 14, stated in its finding that the authority granted to the Internal Affairs Ministry "limited the right of individuals to free choice of their place of residency."

The ruling rejected a resolution of Ukraine's government dated October 10, 1994, which had continued to give the state militia its authority - one that originally was legislated in the Soviet Union back in 1974.

While the "propyska" law had been enforced much less in the last few years, it had remained on the books because the Passport Desk of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had resisted the changes, as it would leave them without an official function.

The department had wielded much power in the USSR. It could make or break a career by virtue of its authority to approve changes of residence and could decide, for example, who could move to a different city for a better job or to attend university.

The decision by the Constitutional Court, the country's highest judicial authority, came after 48 national deputies of Ukraine's Parliament petitioned it to strike down the propyska system, stating that it contradicted Articles 24, 33 and 64 of the Constitution of Ukraine. Those articles hold that the privilege of the right to choose one's place of residency cannot be denied and that a person who lives within the parameters of the law can move about the country freely, without limitations or control.

The propyska issue had returned to the national agenda on June 20, when President Leonid Kuchma issued a decree instructing his Cabinet of Ministers to prepare a set of proposals by October 1 for abolishing the system. At about the same time the Verkhovna Rada, with Mr. Lavrynovych as one of the main sponsors, prepared a draft law to replace the existing propyska system.

That bill, which has been criticized because it also aims to develop a national registry of citizens, is currently being prepared for an initial examination.

Critics say that the law would simply replace one unconstitutional system with another that would violate an individual's right to privacy. In effect, it would allow government authorities to maintain a national database of citizens that would include information on a person's family status, children, parents, military service, criminal record, court cases against him, insurance requirements and travel abroad, and require a record of his fingerprints.

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