ALI Article for “Dzerkalo Tyzhnia”
Year after year, Ukrainians face the never-changing problem of a shortage of burial sites for the dead on the cemeteries. In particular, as of 2022 (this is the latest official report by the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine), communities additionally needed at least 389 sites for burial (i.e., cemeteries, columbaria, etc.).
And this is only the first and most obvious challenge. What shall be done, in particular at the legislative level, to at least reduce the problem with burials in Ukraine? The Agency for Legislative Initiatives researched this matter.
Unresolved issues
Although the relevant Law “On the Burial and the Burial Business” has undergone many changes over its 20-year history, a significant number of its provisions still need to be revised. This is emphasised by both the government authority representatives and the public sector. There are many problems in this area. However, the following remains the most relevant today:
1. The lack of a wide range of alternative burial methods.
The Relevant Law “On the Burial and the Burial Business” stipulates the implementation of three types of burials in Ukraine: 1) burial of a coffin with the body of the deceased in a grave; 2) burning of a coffin with the body of the deceased in a crematorium followed by the burial of the funeral urn with ashes in a grave or placing it in the columbarium niche; 3) scattering ashes of the deceased. Currently, the first option remains the most popular burial method. However, this is where the problem arises: cemeteries lack space.
It is indicative that as of 2022, the largest need for new cemeteries was observed in Lviv (45 more cemeteries are needed), Zakarpattia (41), Kyiv (32), and Dnipropetrovsk (31) Oblasts. The best situation with functioning burial sites is in Zaporizhzhia (which does not need any additional cemeteries), Sumy (two more need to be provided), and Volyn (four) Oblasts. However, in general, except for Zaporizhzhia Oblast, new burial sites are needed in all regions of Ukraine to a greater or lesser extent.
This problem could be solved if more alternative types of burial for the deceased were enshrined in Ukrainian legislation. However, currently, the Law “On the Burials and the Burial Business” provides for only one such method: cremation. No other alternative types of burial are legalised in Ukraine.
2. Current legislative norms contain obstacles to the promotion of cremation as an alternative burial method.
This problem has two aspects. First, the legislation, in some way, limits the possibility of exercising the right to cremation. This is manifested in crematoria being able to function only in large cities with a population of over one million people. Therefore, currently, relevant institutions operate only in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa.
Second, pursuant to Ukrainian legislation, crematoria can only be municipally owned. Therefore, even a crematorium incorporated with the involvement of private funds will still be owned by local government bodies. Accordingly, it is unprofitable for private investors to invest in facilities that will eventually cease to operate.
3. Corruption in the process of allocating burial spaces in the cemeteries.
Pursuant to the requirements of the law, spaces in the cemeteries shall be allocated for free. However, in practice, quite often, a completely opposite situation is observed. The reason is the lack of sufficient territory for graves and the failure to use alternative burial methods. So, someone who wants to have a burial “on special conditions” can purchase a suitable space for a specific price. Such illegal activity is typical for many regions of Ukraine. In recent years, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and the prosecutor’s office have investigated large-scale corruption schemes that allow officials to receive undue benefits for assisting in the allocation of burial sites. Not long ago, such incidents happened in Dnipro (2022), Kharkiv (2023) and Kyiv (2023). The value of such “service” fluctuates from UAH 10,000 to USD 2,000.
New Challenge: Military Burials
From the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the authorities started paying special attention to legislative regulation of the burial of victims of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Thus, in June 2023, councillors of Kyiv City Council adopted a decision to make military burials in the cemeteries of the capital uniform. In August, the government approved the experimental draft on the construction of the National Military Memorial Cemetery, and in September, the issue of consideration of draft law No. 7018 about the improvement of the burial sphere was included in the agenda of the VRU. However, the activity of Ukrainian authorities’ representatives only partially meets society’s demands.
A vivid example of this is a series of scandalous incidents following the construction of a military cemetery in Kyiv, the idea to design which first appeared back in 2011. The history of this facility’s creation has two key problems. First, the National Memorial Cemetery was never built in these 13 (!) years. This topic did not go beyond discussions and hype. Second, the authorities could not agree upon the location of the military cemetery for a long time. As a result, its possible location changed three times.
Initially, the Government proposed to create it on Lysa Hora hill, but this decision was not supported by environmental public organisations. Then, government officials chose the territory of the Bykivnia forest. This idea was completely supported by families of the fallen military service members, but their position was not taken into account when the final decision was made. As a result, the location of the National Military Memorial Cemetery was changed for the third time in August 2023.
This time, the Cabinet of Ministers chose the territory of Hatne village territorial community in Fastiv Raion of Kyiv Oblast. It is assumed that by July 2025, a special space for the honourable burial of military service members will finally appear here. However, many families of the deceased keep the ashes of soldiers at home or store them in crematoriums while waiting for this date. Besides, families of the fallen military service members disagree with the location chosen by the Government and believe that the military cemetery should be located within Kyiv.
There are legislative initiatives, but no progress is observed in solving the problems
It is evident that the current version of the Law “On the Burial and the Burial Business” needs significant revision. Considering this, over the last six years, Ukrainian authorities have made three attempts to eliminate existing legislative deficiencies and improve the legal regulation of this sphere. However, none of these attempts succeeded. In particular, the government draft law No. 8248 was withdrawn in August 2019 after a year and a half of consideration in the parliament. This draft law, among other things, stipulated a partial solution to the problem of the lack of space in cemeteries by introducing biological burial as an alternative burial method. It was also supposed to create favourable conditions for the construction of crematoriums at the cost of private investors.
One more governmental draft law, No. 7034, submitted to the Verkhovna Rada in February 2022, was similar in its essence. Draft law authors proposed regulating the construction of crematoria through a state-private partnership and promoting the development of cremation as a type of burial. However, this time again, after four months of consideration, the relevant draft law was withdrawn.
Also, in February 2022, members of parliament registered draft law No. 7018. It stipulates the implementation of other alternative types of burial in addition to cremation and aims to introduce a private form of ownership of land plots assigned for cemeteries and objects located on them. Currently, this is the only draft law on improving the burial sphere that is under consideration by the Verkhovna Rada. However, members of parliament don’t rush to adopt it; its consideration has been paused for two years.
As a result, key aspects of legal regulation of the burial sphere have not experienced any significant changes over the past twenty years. This shows that the need to intensify problem-solving in the burial sphere was long on the agenda. The war is an additional reason for starting this process right now. Therefore, the first thing that representatives of the authorities should do is speed up the process of considering legislative initiatives in this area.
