Decriminalisation of sex work in Ukraine was the topic of a roundtable discussion organised by the charity organisation Legalife-Ukraine on 12 August. Denys Yevdokymenko, an expert in the IT and Telecom sector of the Better Regulation Delivery Office, joined the event to highlight the need to decriminalise adult consensual pornography.
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. The state spends significant resources on prosecuting acts that do not pose a real threat to society, such as the publishing of nudes on social media.
Ukrainian society already supports changes that can ensure a fairer and more efficient use of the resources of law enforcement agencies. The draft law No. 9623, which was developed by the BRDO team together with other NGOs and is currently registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, will allow the situation to be corrected. Denys Yevdokymenko highlighted the need to intensify the discussion on this topic and promote further steps by the government and parliament towards modernising Ukrainian legislation in his speech at the Legalife-Ukraine roundtable.
