A year ago, on 18 August 2023, draft law No. 9623 on decriminalising pornography was registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
It is worth reminding that the production and circulation of porn is completely prohibited in Ukraine. The maximum sanction for violations is imprisonment for 7 years. Criminal liability for such actions contradicts the constitutional rights of citizens and does not meet modern European standards. It is a waste of state resources to prosecute “crimes” that do not pose a real threat to society.
What happened during the year:
- An alternative draft law was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which proposes to partially strengthen the responsibility for pornography under the guise of decriminalisation. No progress has been made on its consideration.
- According to Opendatabot, the number of prosecutions for adult porn has increased by 60%, while the number of prosecutions for child porn has decreased by 40%. This means that dozens of lives have been ruined by accusations of acts that are not dangerous to fellow citizens, such as adults voluntarily posting their nudes on social media.
- No progress has been made in the consideration of draft law No. 9623 by the Parliamentary Committee on Law Enforcement.
To unblock the consideration of the draft law No. 9623, the decision of several persons is still needed: the chairman of the relevant VRU Committee, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, and the leadership of the factions and the parliament.
At the same time, Ukrainian society has repeatedly demonstrated its desire to make Ukrainian legislation more modern and similar to European legislation: Ukrainians have collected more than 25,000 signatures under a petition to decriminalise pornography, and more than 20 NGOs, including military and volunteer associations, have supported the decriminalisation law.
Statistics also show that society is ready to decriminalise pornography. In particular, Ukraine is among the top 20 countries in terms of traffic consumption on Pornhub. The OnlyFans platform, which provides access to pornographic products, was one of the first foreign companies to pay tax for the provision of electronic services in Ukraine in 2022. Note that erotic content is even used to collect donations for Ukraine’s defence purposes (the Teronlyfans association earned UAH 31 million for the Armed Forces thanks to nudes).
Why is it important to adopt draft law No. 9623, and is martial law not an obstacle to this?
Reducing criminal prosecutions of citizens for acts that do not contain a public danger is more relevant than ever during the war. Ukrainians also need other positive consequences of the adoption of the law.
In particular, the decriminalisation of adult voluntary pornography will save budget funds and provide additional revenues to the state budget through taxes, and reduce corruption in law enforcement agencies. It will also free up law enforcement time to fight real crimes, such as cybercrime and child pornography.
What is important to know about draft law No. 9623?
- Draft law No. 9623 does not decriminalise child porn, distribution of porn among minors, public display of pornography, human trafficking, dissemination of pornographic content without consent, etc.
- Draft law No. 9623 was submitted to the parliament by more than 20 MPs from different political forces, and the main initiator was Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
Additional materials:
- Article by Economic Truth “MPs want to legalise pornography: what will it do” https://www.epravda.com.ua/publications/2023/08/15/703227/
- Video by Lviv Regulatory Hub. ”Decriminalisation of pornography | Josephine Jackson (Yulia Senyuk), Taras Khavunka, Mykhailo Yudin, Dan Li” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiAIARinkoY&t=1s