Over 110 public and human rights organizations have appealed to the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada with a demand to reject draft law No. 15294. The document, which is being prepared for the second reading, combines increased punishment for child pornography with the decriminalization of commercial production and mass distribution of «adult» pornographic content.
Over 110 public and human rights organizations have appealed to the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada with a demand to reject draft law No. 15294. The document, which is being prepared for the second reading, combines increased punishment for child pornography with the decriminalization of commercial production and mass distribution of «adult» pornographic content.
The activists sent a corresponding appeal, supported by over 500 signatures, to the Speaker of the Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, and to the relevant committees.
According to the signatories, they fully support strengthening the responsibility for the sexual exploitation of children. However, they are outraged that under the guise of protecting minors, deputies are trying to pave the way for the creation of a legal porn market without proper safeguards, regulation, and age verification systems.
The organizations emphasize that the proposed changes contradict Ukraine’s obligations to the European Union (in particular, Directive 2011/36/EU on combating trafficking in human beings), since a person’s formal consent to participate in filming cannot justify possible economic coercion, blackmail, or exploitation.
Human rights activists are particularly concerned about the military context. In their opinion, an uncontrolled pornography market could become a tool for legalizing and monetizing materials depicting sexual violence against prisoners of war and civilians in occupied territories.
«By voting to legalize the commercial porn market, you are not 'protecting privacy' — you are creating conditions under which women’s bodies are turned into commodities, and the poverty, displacement, and war-related vulnerability of women and girls are turned into a source of profit,» the appeal states.
Activists are demanding that the regulations be separated: that child protection be placed in a separate document, and that a comprehensive legal, gender, European integration, and security assessment be conducted regarding the decriminalization of adult porn. They are also insisting on establishing liability for online platforms (including OnlyFans) and studios that profit from possible exploitation.
As a reminder, on July 14, 2026, the Verkhovna Rada supported in the first reading Bill No. 15294, which abolishes criminal liability for the creation of adult content. Co-author of the initiative Yaroslav Zheleznyak explained the need for changes by saying that the current Article 301 of the Criminal Code leads to unfounded persecution of content creators, while the OnlyFans platform officially pays taxes to the budget. The previous version of this bill was defeated by the parliament in May.
