In its activities, the United Jewish Community of Ukraine is guided by the international definition of
anti-Semitism. We use this term for the reason that the Ukrainian regulatory and legal framework does not
contain a definition of anti-Semitism, and, accordingly, the list of actions that can be qualified as its
manifestations. In this regard, the UJCU fully supports the initiative of the Ambassador of Israel to
Ukraine Joel Lion to adopt an international definition of anti-Semitism.
On May 26, 2016, at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance or IHRA plenary meeting in Bucharest,
it was decided to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism, which was recognized by international community. In
2017 this definition was
approved by the European
Parliament.
According to wording, offered by IHRA, anti-Semitism is a determined perception of Jews which is expressed
in hatred towards them. Verbal and physical demonstrations of anti-Semitism are directed against Jews and
nonJews and/or against their property, against Jewish communities and organizations and religious
establishments.
Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the
religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:
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Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or
an extremist view of religion;
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Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the
power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish
conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions;
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Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single
Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews;
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Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish
people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II
(the Holocaust);
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Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust;
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Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide,
than to the interests of their own nations;
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Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a
State of Israel is a racist endeavor;
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Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic
nation;
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Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or
blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis;
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Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis;
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Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
On September 22, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law "On Prevention and Counteraction to Anti-Semitism
in Ukraine", it was supported by 283 people's deputies. People's deputy Maxym Buzhansky was the author of
the bill, and 49 people's deputies of Ukraine were the co-authors. On October 7, 2021, President of Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelensky signed the Law "On Prevention and Counteraction to Anti-Semitism
in Ukraine" №1770-IX.
On February 15, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted Draft Law No. 5110
"On Amendments to Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine to implement the provisions of the Law of
Ukraine "On Prevention and Counteraction of Anti-Semitism in Ukraine." The bill was presented by People's
Deputy Maksym Buzhanskyi.
This document will allow to amend the current Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("Violation of
citizen equality as to their race, nationality, religious beliefs, disability, and other grounds") by
adding the phrase "manifestations of anti-Semitism" so that law enforcement authorities could classify
crimes aptly.
The Constitution of Ukraine of 28 June 1996 is the Fundamental Law of the country. This normative act
enshrines the bases of equality of citizens’ rights, regardless of their racial or religious background.
According to the Constitution of Ukraine, citizens have equal constitutional rights and freedoms and are
equal before the law. There shall be no privileges or restrictions based on race, skin colour, political,
religious, and other beliefs, gender, ethnic and social origin, property status, place of residence,
linguistic or other characteristics (art.25).
Criminal Code of Ukraine includes two articles which can be applied in the cases of anti-Semitism
demonstration.
Article 442 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine defines genocide, as the act willfully committed for the purpose
of total or partial destruction of any national, ethnic, racial, or religious group by extermination of
members of any such group or inflicting grave bodily injuries on them, creation of life conditions
calculated for total or partial physical destruction of the group, decrease or prevention of childbearing in
the group, or forceful transferring of children from one group to another.
Article 161 of this code also says about violation of citizens' equality based on their race, nationality or
religious preferences, disability and on other characteristics and defines it, as willful actions inciting
national, racial or religious enmity and hatred, humiliation of national honor and dignity, or the insult of
citizens' feelings in respect to their religious convictions, and also any direct or indirect restriction of
rights, or granting direct or indirect privileges to citizens based on race, color of skin, political,
religious and other convictions, sex, ethnic and social origin, property status, place of residence,
linguistic or other characteristics.
