Women’s Platform for Action International (WoPAI) has raised serious concerns regarding Ukraine’s Bill No. 15294, adopted at first reading by the Verkhovna Rada on 14 July 2026.While the bill includes measures to strengthen protection of children against sexual abuse material, it also introduces provisions that would decriminalise the commercial production, distribution, sale and transfer of so-called “adult” pornography.
WoPAI fully supports stronger action against child sexual abuse and exploitation. However, we are deeply concerned that this legislative change would expand a commercial pornography market without addressing the risks of trafficking, coercion, sexual exploitation, non-consensual material and the commodification of women’s bodies.
Pornography is not separate from wider systems of inequality and exploitation affecting women and girls. Any legislative reform concerning the commercial production and distribution of sexual material must ensure that women’s human dignity, rights and protection from exploitation remain at the centre.
The concern is particularly urgent in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine, where displacement, poverty, insecurity and family separation increase the risks faced by women and children, including trafficking and sexual exploitation.
👉 Read WoPAI’s letter to the European Parliament Committees on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), Foreign Affairs (AFET), and the EU–Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee here.
WoPAI calls for urgent consideration of this matter before the second reading of Bill No. 15294, including an assessment of its compatibility with European human rights standards and the removal of provisions that would decriminalise commercial pornography activities without adequate protections.
Ukraine’s European path must strengthen the protection of women and children from violence, exploitation and commodification. WoPAI remains mobilised to ensure that women’s human dignity and fundamental rights remain at the heart of legislative developments.
