Ukraine is about to decriminalize porn

On August 15, 2023, our team was blessed with a great news from the People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak. On his Telegram channel, he announced that he had sent a bill to MPs for signature, which would decriminalize the use of pornographic materials that do not pose a public danger.

Today Ukraine is following the laws of the soviet times and is criminalizing the dissemination of pornographic materials, relying on the document, which is 100 years old - The International Convention on the Prevention of the Distribution of Pornographic Publications and Trade in Them, despite the fact that Ukraine is not a participant of this Convention. Apart from our country, only the countries of the former Soviet bloc use this practice: Russia, Belarus, Bulgaria, and Lithuania, as well as the Vatican.

In 2022, after the petition “On the legalization of erotica and porn on the territory of Ukraine” gained more than 25 thousand votes, the BRDO Effective Regulation Office together with a number of Ukrainian civil society NGOs (including our CO “LEGALIFE- UKRAINE”) advocated for the decriminalization of the creation and distribution of pornographic products (except for images of violent acts, acts threatening human life, and sexual acts involving animals).

[BRDO’s Office of Effective Regulation is an independent think tank, a key platform for united reform organizations that share common values to implement change. The office was established in 2015 as a non-governmental non-profit organization to assist the government in implementing medium- and long-term economic reforms to improve the business environment in the face of political instability.]

The initiative was supported by more than twenty civil society organizations, including the military, and more than 70 people who signed the relevant appeal.

What does this draft law propose?

This draft law propose to abolish criminal liability for:

Import, production, sale and distribution of pornographic materials (Article 301 of the Criminal Code;

Maintenance of places of debauchery and pandering (article 302 of the Criminal Code) - it is important to note, that this article does not apply to prostitution and pimping, for which no changes are proposed.

At the same time, this draft law is leaving criminal liability for:

Gaining access to child pornography, its acquisition, storage, importation, transportation or other movement, production, sale and distribution;

Sale of pornography to minors;

Production, distribution and sale of extreme pornography;

Distribution and sale of pornography without the consent of the person depicted in it (revenge-porn, deep-fake), as well as the production of pornography without the knowledge of the person depicted in it;

Involvement in prostitution, pimping, and human trafficking.

Ukrainian society, at least according to statistics, does not consider viewing pornography to be wrong or dangerous. The following facts testify to this:

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 the tax for the provision of electronic services in Ukraine.

Erotic content is used to collect donations for Ukraine’s defense purposes - more than 31 million UAH has already been raised.

In August 2022, a petition to legalize porn and eroticism in Ukraine received the 25,000 votes needed for consideration.

However, the production and circulation of porn is currently completely banned in Ukraine. Accordingly, those citizens of Ukraine who create/send/store pornographic content are subject to criminal prosecution.

Let’s recall the story of a woman from Novi Sanzhary who received a criminal sentence for sending her own masturbation videos in private correspondence. The court recognized this video as pornographic material and imposed a 34,000 UAH fine, as well as confiscated the phone as an instrument of crime. This draft law will protect citizens and their privacy.

This draft law aims to reduce the abuse by law enforcement agencies of the ability to prosecute adults for voluntary actions with pornography that do not pose a public danger and are common. That is, to remove from criminal liability cases involving the private exchange of "lust" and similar content, the posting of videos by married couples on Pornhub, sending of nudes by TerOnlyFans volunteers for a donation to the Armed Forces, the storage or creation of paintings with erotic scenes, etc.

Finally, decriminalization of pornography will not affect the number or frequency of viewing pornographic materials, because porn is already massively viewed and web sites are also massively used. Instead, a person who sends nudes or other pornographic materials, including in private correspondence, will be protected from police harassment and the threat of criminal liability.

Team of CO “Legalife-Ukraine”