Plans of legislative changes to fight stigma and criminalization of vulnerable groups in Ukraine

On 14-15 December 2023, in Kyiv the VI All-Ukrainian Forum of Sex Workers was held. Activists of the community together with the human rights experts have discussed various plans of legislative changes to fight stigma and criminalization of vulnerable groups in Ukraine.

Oksana Kashyntseva, lawyer, PhD, coordinator of the Fight for Health Platform, and Iryna Yakovets, PhD, senior researcher, expert of the Fight for Health Platform, presented initiatives to eliminate stigma and to decriminalise sex work.

Currently, representatives of the Platform are working on comprehensive legislative changes and their promotion, focusing on human rights with a direct correlation to the prevention of infectious diseases.

Oksana noted that as part of the working groups under the Committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Social Policy, the Ombudsman’s Office, etc., the platform’s experts propose for consideration draft laws in the field of HIV, namely:

1. New version of the Law on HIV.
2. Decriminalisation of HIV as a disease: cancellation, not cosmetic changes to the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
3. Legalisation of sex work: elimination of stigma and criminal prosecution. It is the legalisation and bringing sex work out of the underground, and not according to the Swedish model.
4. Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine to eliminate the taxation of charitable aid for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
5. Decriminalisation of drug use for the purpose of inclusion in the medical space, introduction of the German model of "rooms for controlled consumption".

"If we compare advocacy with the previous eighth convocation of the Verkhovna Rada, it is now easier to enter committees, and it is definitely easier to promote a proposal through civil society. They hear, they’re listening, and you can put pressure on them, just as civil society should. Therefore, there will be a lot of changes that are indirectly important to us...", Oksana Kashyntseva.

Currently, the Office of the President and the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine are advocating for the interests of patients, in particular:

1. Provisions on crimes against human life and health: decriminalisation of HIV.
2. Provisions on decriminalisation of adult pornography.
3. Cancellation of administrative liability for the provision of sexual services.

Iryna Yakovets spoke in more detail about the content of the Draft Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences to Ensure Freedom from Interference with Private Life".

Iryna noted that over time, the number of people prosecuted for prostitution has been decreasing. Such a decrease in law enforcement "attention" may indicate a recognition of the absence of a public danger in this act. If we take into account the reports of sex workers, this also indicates the persistence of corruption schemes of "protection" of sex work by law enforcement.

This situation is typical for countries around the world where the provision of sex services is punishable by law. Therefore, the Draft Law of Ukraine proposes to exclude Article 181-1 (prostitution) and make appropriate editorial changes to a number of other articles.

Simple questions: What will happen instead? How will sex work continue to exist?" - Iryna gave simple answers.

Instead, a Law of Ukraine on the Legal Status of Persons Voluntarily Providing Sexual Services for Remuneration will be developed. Such a law will make it possible to eliminate discrimination in the treatment of SWs and will contribute to overcoming the epidemic of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Finally, the SWs will have the right and choice to conduct business as an individual entrepreneur or provide services as an employee. At the same time, the relationship with the employer will be governed by the general rules of labour law, including those on home-based work and social insurance. 

Another area of work, Iryna believes, could be the regulation and practice of providing sexual services to people with disabilities, especially since there is already such experience in the world: sex is perceived as a basic human right. But not everyone has the opportunity to exercise the right to satisfy their sexual needs. Therefore, governments implement various programs to address this problem, for example:

1) In the Netherlands, people with disabilities can receive a monthly allowance to go to sex workers. Of course, for this to happen, sex work must be decriminalised and sex workers must not be prosecuted.

2) In the UK, as part of a sex therapy program (which includes people with disabilities), a psychotherapist can assign a surrogate partner to a patient - a person who will help them to explore and reveal their own sexuality. And this helps both people with complex congenital developmental disorders and those who have become disabled due to injury or illness (such programs are also being developed in the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, and some other countries).

Ukraine should take advantage of this, especially today, when such practices as expanding rehabilitation programs for veterans would be relevant and would serve to restore the mental and physical condition of our citizens.

Team CO “Legalife-Ukraine”