Civil society organizations urge President to sign bill on Verkhovna Rada openness
Multiple Ukrainian civil society organizations are calling on the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to sign Law No. 11321 on opening access to Verkhovna Rada committee meetings and strengthening guarantees for journalists, according to the joint address by the NGOs, which the Institute of Mass Information is a signatory.
The Law provides for:
- livestreaming Verkhovna Rada committee meetings;
- access (including online access) to Verkhovna Rada committee meetings for journalists and civil society representatives;
- advance (24 hours) public announcements on the committees' websites about the time of the meetings and the issues that the committee plans to consider.
The authors of the address point out that today, March 20, marks two months since the law was submitted to Volodymyr Zelensky for signature and the President has not signed the document into effect yet despite the deadline having expired.
The delay in signing this law has negative impact, the address says.
"If the law is not signed, this may be perceived as the President’s Office wanting to conceal information about the Verkhovna Rada's lawmaking work. Laws and initiatives adopted in the Verkhovna Rada affect the lives of every citizen, therefore Ukrainians should be entitled to learning about legislative initiatives at preparation stage so that they can provide feedback to the Parliament and influence its decisions within their constitutional rights.
"It is important to note that open access livestreams of parliamentary committee meetings are standard for all civilized countries, as they allow the citizens to learn about future draft bills at the stage when they can influence the final text of the bills,” the statement says.
The Institute of Mass Information provides the full statement:
March 20, 2025 marks two months since Law No. 11321 was submitted for signature to the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Article 94 of the Constitution of Ukraine says that “within fifteen days of the receipt of a law, the President of Ukraine signs it.” The article also clearly states: “In the event that the President of Ukraine has not returned a law for repeat consideration within the established term, the law is deemed to be approved by the President of Ukraine and shall be signed and officially promulgated.”
The law in question provides for:
- livestreaming Verkhovna Rada committee meetings;
- access (including online access) to Verkhovna Rada committee meetings for journalists and civil society representatives;
- advance (24 hours) public announcements on the committees' websites about the time of the meetings and the issues that the committee plans to consider.
Delay in signing this law will have negative impact. For example, on March 5, the Verkhovna Rada Law Enforcement Committee approved amendments to draft bill No. 10311 in closed session. In particular, these amendments allow National Guardsmen to mark “people violating the law during mass riots” with paint or other means and to warn participants in such riots about the use of force (including firearms) on a large number of people “through loudspeakers, announcement boards or other technical means,” which may lead to excessive use of force against civilians. Such parliamentary initiatives carry high risks for society and must be communicated to the public beforehand.
Earlier, it was only thanks to MPs from the same committee that it was revealed that MP Artem Dmytruk, who is a suspect in a criminal law case and is on the international wanted list, participated and voted in the committee meeting after illegally traveling abroad.
In contrast, there are cases that demonstrate that videos from committee meetings are a valuable source of information about the work of MPs. For example, recently, the upload of a video from a Rules of Procedure and Parliamentary Ethics Committee meeting revealed that MP Nestor Shufrych, who is suspected of high treason, submitted an address from the pre-trial detention center. In the address, he requested that a draft bill on protecting the rights of national minorities be registered.
Moreover, thanks to videos from Environmental Policy Committee meetings being made public, the Verkhovna Rada is aware of another fugitive MP from the “Dovira” group, Serhiy Shakhov, who has been a wanted person for over a year but still attends parliamentary committee meetings and votes in them.
According to analysis by the CHESNO Movement, nine committees never publish videos of their meetings and another nine only publish some of them.
The law was welcomed by the Council of Europe, which noted that it was a “significant step forward in guaranteeing the rights of journalists and media professionals.” The law was also supported by international organizations defending the rights of journalists: Reporters Without Borders, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), and the European Federation of Journalists.
If the law is not signed, this may be perceived as the President’s Office wanting to conceal information about the Verkhovna Rada's lawmaking work. Laws and initiatives adopted in the Verkhovna Rada affect the lives of every citizen, therefore Ukrainians should be entitled to learning about legislative initiatives at preparation stage so that they can provide feedback to the Parliament and influence its decisions within their constitutional rights.
It is important to note that open access livestreams of parliamentary committee meetings are standard for all civilized countries, as they allow the citizens to learn about future draft bills at the stage when they can influence the final text of the bills.
In view of the above, we call on the President to sign Bill No. 11321 as soon as possible.
Anti-Corruption Action Center
CHESNO Movement
National Automaidan Association
Institute of Mass Information (IMI)
Anti-Corruption Research and Education Centre in Ukraine (ACREC)
KHAC (Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center)
Anti-Corruption Center MEZHA
Anti-Corruption Headquarters
Public Control Platform
StateWatch
NGO Joint Action Centre
Previously
On January 14, 2025, the Verkhovna Rada overall supported the bill No. 11321 “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Enhancing Certain Guarantees for the Work of the Media, Journalists, and for Citizens' Access to Information”. The bill provides for granting the media and the public open access to Verkhovna Rada committee meetings.
The IMI called for adding a clause allowing journalists free movement during curfew hours to the document. However, this clause was cut from the final version of the draft bill.
In December 2024, multiple civil society organizations and media professionals called on the Verkhovna Rada to make parliamentary committee meetings open to journalists and the public and to adopt draft bill No. 11321 by the end of the year. Their address argued that currently there are no security risks that could be in the way of increasing transparency of the Verkhovna Rada committee meetings.
The IMI has explained that draft bill No. 11321 creates no new obligations for media outlets in terms of deleting comments from readers. It merely specifies an existing clause in the Law "On Media".
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