Ukrainian teenagers will be prohibited from traveling abroad on their own

Archive material. Date of change on the old site: 2023-08-10. Prices, dates and conditions are retained from the original and may be out of date.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine drafted draft law No. 9480, which concerns the protection of children's rights during temporary travel abroad. The purpose of this draft law is to limit the independent departure of teenagers abroad in order to ensure their safety and well-being. The main provisions of the draft law and the reasons for its introduction are presented below.

According to the proposed bill, teenagers aged 16 to 18 will be able to cross the border in the following cases:

accompanied by one parent and with the consent of the other;
accompanied by a trusted person;
in the case of an orphan child or a child deprived of parental care, with the permission of the guardianship authority, which will be granted in accordance with the procedure determined by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Teenagers who have already reached the age of 18 will be able to cross the border independently, unaccompanied by parents or an authorized person. This could help avoid cases in which social services in European Union countries take Ukrainian teenagers into special institutions due to differences in legislation.

The reason for the introduction of this bill was the cases of children being taken from Ukrainian refugees in European countries. This may happen due to inconsistency between the laws of Ukraine and EU legislation. In particular, problems may arise when one of the parents is forced to stay at work in Ukraine, and the grandmother takes the child abroad. In this case, the grandmother does not have the right to represent the interests of the child according to European law.

Ombudsman for the rights of children, family, youth and sports Iryna Suslova noted that they are solving this issue together with international organizations. The aim is to provide legal aid and translation for those who find themselves in similar situations, so that they can represent their interests in court and have a lawyer and an interpreter.