Human rights defenders presented a roadmap of draft laws for the 14th session of the Verkhovna Rada

The coalition of organisations dealing with the protection of the rights of victims of armed aggression against Ukraine has prepared a roadmap of draft laws for the 14th session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 9th convocation.

The document lists legislative initiatives that parliament should adopt in the near future to strengthen the protection of Ukrainians affected by the war, as well as those that need to be revised or rejected so as not to worsen the situation of the people.

Human rights defenders recall that in July 2025, due to the “reset” of the government, some important legislative initiatives were withdrawn from consideration. Among them are Draft Law No. 9069 on the recognition of civil status acts that took place in temporarily occupied territories, and Draft Law No. 11064, which was supposed to establish the legal basis for the formation of the military administration of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. The coalition calls for these and other initiatives to be re-registered and reconsidered.

The authors pay particular attention to the need for the Parliament to comply with legislative procedure. In particular, they point to the widespread practice of adopting decisions without the conclusions of the relevant committees or the Main Legal Department, as well as cases of radical changes to draft laws during preparation for the second reading.

The roadmap sets out priority initiatives that should be supported, among them:

• Draft law No. 11440, which simplifies state registration of ownership rights to real estate if the documents were stored only in the Bureau of Technical Inventory on paper;
• Draft law No. 12301, which provides for a new version of the Law “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons”;
• Draft Law No. 12353, which sets out in detail the procedure for the mandatory evacuation of children from dangerous settlements;
• Draft law No. 13136, which improves the mechanisms of compensation for destroyed or damaged housing.

At the same time, a number of draft laws, according to human rights defenders, require substantial revision. For example, Draft Law No. 12214 on unemployment assistance for IDPs and Draft Law No. 13441 on compensation for destroyed movable property. The coalition also warns of risks in draft laws on access to higher education for youth from occupied territories (Nos. 13361 and 13361-1) and on the conditions of the 2026 admission campaign (No. 13650).

Human rights defenders recommend rejecting Draft Law No. 12173, which provides priority compensation for destroyed housing to one of the spouses without taking into account the provisions of the Family Code, as well as Draft Law No. 12312, which unreasonably limits the list of evidence in cases establishing the fact of death in the occupied territories. Draft law No. 13473 on the transfer of educational institution buildings to municipal ownership for the accommodation of IDPs also received a negative assessment, as it may create additional financial risks for communities and does not solve the problem of long-term housing.

The full document is available here.