The President Of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky

The Presidential Office of Ukraine,

01220, Kyiv, 11 Bankova Str.

January 30, 2025

The undersigned media freedom organisations call on President Volodymyr Zelensky to sign Ukraine’s Draft Law 11321, and in such a way ensure that the Ukrainian parliament’s committee meetings are open to journalists and civil society. We urge President Zelensky to ratify the law before the legal deadline for this expires on February 4.

The Law is an important tool in strengthening access to information provisions for media, journalists, and the general public, as it would allow the aforementioned actors to monitor the work of MPs in committees.

Since 2020, access to information about the work of the Parliament of Ukraine has been limited for journalists and the general public, initially due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While we understand that limiting access to information was necessary under martial law following the full-scale invasion Russia’s full-scale invasion, these restrictions resulted in limited public oversight of the Parliament’s work in the long run. 

To address this, in July 2024, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted Draft Law No. 11321 on access to information about the work of parliamentary committees, in first reading. For the second reading, the Draft was amended with provisions allowing the committees to hold meetings either online or to publish a recorded video within 24 hours, during the duration of the martial law. Upon its end, the second option will become unavailable, and committees will only be able to broadcast their meetings. They would also be obliged to grant journalists and civil society representatives unrestricted access to online and open offline meetings.

It is important to emphasise that Draft envisages exemption from broadcasting obligations for issues related to state secrecy, which will be granted based on vote of that committee’s members, ensuring in such a way that all issues related to the defence remain protected.

We urge the President of Ukraine to reaffirm his commitment to free expression by signing the aforementioned bill. This would provide much needed access to information for Ukrainian journalists, increase transparency and in general serve the public interest.

Signed by

European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)

European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)