Pedophiles in Ukraine will be ordered to undergo chemical castration by injection after being convicted, the Daily Mail has reported.
Ukraine's national news agency said that the chemical process "involves the forced injection of anti-androgen drugs consisting of chemicals that should reduce libido and sexual activity".
Men between the ages of 18 and 65 who are found guilty of the rape or sexual abuse of minors will be forced to receive the chemical castration under the new legislation. This would effectively mean that thousands of males a year would be subject to the treatment.
Per the Daily Mail, Ukraine's crime figures showed that 320 children were raped in the country in 2017 alone - but the numbers of underage sexual abuse cases is believed to be in the thousands.
Earlier this week, national police chief Vyacheslav Abroskin revealed that five children were raped in four regions of Ukraine in just 24 hours - and that's just the cases that were reported.
The new law was passed at a special session of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament), where Radical Party leader Oleg Lyashko - the man responsible for proposing the new castration law - said: "Ukrainian law does not have a life term or death penalty for sex crimes against children. And it is very unlikely that the rapist would not be back to his "business" again after release from jail."
As part of the tough new laws, the maximum jail sentence for raping a child was increased from 12 to 15 years. Ukraine will also establish a public register of convicted pedophiles. These criminals will be monitored for the rest of their lives by law officials following their release from prison.
Ukraine has yet to specify the chemical cocktail it will use to achieve the castration.
The news comes a month after the state of Alabama passed the HB 379 bill, which requires certain sex offenders to also undergo chemical castration. It was introduced by Republican state representative Steve Hurst, and will target sex offenders whose offenses involve any minor under the age of 13
