On October 23, several media outlets reported the registration of Draft Law 16176 in the Ukrainian Parliament. The stated objective of the bill is to regulate the activities of the representative bodies of Ukraine’s Indigenous Peoples and to establish the legal conditions necessary for the exercise of their powers.
The initiators of the bill stated that it is intended to “build a robust legal framework to protect the rights of Crimean Tatars, Karaims, and Krymchaks” and “aims to enable the representative bodies of Indigenous Peoples to effectively exercise the rights granted to them under the Law of Ukraine ‘On Indigenous Peoples’.”
It has been stated that the draft law was developed “with the participation of representatives” from the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, and MP’s “team members”.
As outlined in the text of Draft Law 16176, a representative body of an Indigenous Peoples may, “for the purpose of facilitating its activities”, establish an executive body. This executive body would function as a legal entity and operate based on regulations approved by the representative body itself.
However, through amendments to the aforementioned Law and other documents, Draft Law 16176 stipulates that formal registration, operational activities, and the receipt of state budget funds are to be restricted exclusively to the executive body, but not to the representative body itself.
It should be noted that other provisions of the aforementioned Law do not provide for the activities or competencies of such an executive body, and no amendments are being proposed to those sections. Draft Law 16176 does not provide for a mechanism by which the Indigenous People can exercise control over the activities of the executive body, nor does it mandate that such a body report back to the Indigenous People.
As experts from our Association have previously pointed out, at the time the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People was legalized in April 2026, the statutory documents of the Mejlis and the Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar People, which had been adopted prior to the Russian occupation of Crimea, did not provide for the operation of an additional executive body.
The Association has since learned that, following the registration of Draft Law 16176, representatives of the Karaite and Krymchak communities, who lead the public organizations “Foundation for Research and Support of the Indigenous Peoples of Crimea” and the “Union of Karaites”, submitted comments and objections to the relevant committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Their concerns center on the fact that Draft Law 16176 was neither coordinated with nor developed in consultation with the Karaite and Krymchak communities. Furthermore, given the small size of these communities within the territory controlled by Ukraine, the draft law effectively prevents them from legalizing their own representative bodies as legal entities and precludes them from accessing state budget funding.
It should be recalled that we previously noted that the communities of these Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine were preparing to register their own representative bodies in accordance with the aforementioned Law.
