On the issue of criminal liability for violation of the rights to gender identity and sexual orientation

Abstract

The article analyzes the current state of ensuring the right to sexual orientation and gender identity, analyzes regulations, examines the statistics of criminal offenses on this issue. To achieve this goal, an analysis of current legislation on the grounds for criminal liability for violation of the rights to sexual orientation and gender identity, examined the results of court proceedings, identified motives for bias. It is established that there is no aggravating circumstance for violation of the right to sexual orientation and gender identity in the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The study showed that the current legislation of Ukraine on criminal liability for violation of the rights to sexual orientation and gender identity does not provide a proper solution to this problem. However, given the need for timely decision-making on this issue, there are reasonable proposals: to expand the list of «protected features» that are subject to protection, in particular criminal law; clearly define sexual orientation and gender identity as «protected traits»; to supplement the list of circumstances that aggravate the punishment provided for in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Art. 67 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the grounds for committing criminal offenses based on hatred of sexual orientation and gender identity; for the correct functioning of the provisions of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, it is necessary to give a clear definition of such phenomena as: «intolerance», «sexual orientation», «gender identity» at the legislative level, which will prevent the abuse of these concepts. Keywords: intolerance, sexual orientation, gender identity, criminal offenses of hatred, protected traits, violations of rights, motives for prejudice