Why Ukraine needs to update its law on peaceful assembly and what EU accession has to do with it
Ukraine has a long history of street protests. The Revolution on Granite, Ukraine Without Kuchma, the Orange Revolution and the Revolution of Dignity – all came at critical moments for the country, when peaceful assemblies became one of the ways citizens could influence the authorities.
That tradition has not disappeared during the full-scale war. Ukrainians take to the streets in support of prisoners of war and people missing in action, protest government decisions and demand solutions to problems affecting their communities.
But there is a paradox: a country with such a strong protest tradition still lacks a basic law that would comprehensively establish the rules governing peaceful assemblies.
Now, this long-standing problem has also become part of Ukraine’s European integration process.
Read more about what EU accession has to do with this, what is wrong with the current rules and what a new law should look like in the article by Volodymyr Yavorskyi and Tetiana Kapustinska of the Center for Civil Liberties: A country of Maidans without a law on peaceful assemblies: what Ukraine needs to change on its path to the EU.
On 15 June 2026, Ukraine and the EU officially opened the first negotiating cluster – Fundamentals, or the Fundamentals of the EU Accession Process. This is a special cluster: it is opened first and closed last, while progress in it determines the overall pace of the membership negotiations.
Among other things, it covers the rule of law and fundamental rights. Freedom of peaceful assembly is one of those rights.
The European principle is fairly simple at its core.
The state should start from the premise that people have the right to assemble peacefully, rather than from the assumption that they need government permission to protest.
Article 39 of the Constitution of Ukraine establishes the general principle, but not procedures for every possible situation. In particular, the legislation does not provide sufficiently clear answers as to how notification of an assembly should work, when police may intervene in a protest that is already underway, or how their actions can be challenged.
Spontaneous protests are a separate issue, as the very nature of such events may make it impossible to notify the authorities in advance. European standards provide protection for such assemblies, while the Ukrainian Constitution refers to advance notification.
There is also a lack of clarity in the terminology.
The law should clearly define the limits of law-enforcement intervention: when police may disperse an assembly, detain a participant, or use force and special means. It is equally important to establish an effective procedure for investigating possible violations and holding law-enforcement officers accountable for unlawful or disproportionate actions.
One positive development has been the introduction of dialogue police. Their task is to communicate with organisers and participants and prevent conflicts from escalating.
The law should clearly distinguish peaceful assemblies from other mass events, protect spontaneous assemblies and counter-demonstrations, establish exhaustive grounds for restrictions and guarantee this right not only to Ukrainian citizens.
New technologies also require specific regulation: participation in a lawful protest should not in itself become grounds for unjustified surveillance.
There should also be safeguards for journalists and observers documenting the course of demonstrations.
In its 2025 report, the European Commission noted that Ukraine generally has adequate legal safeguards for freedom of assembly. At the same time, it pointed to inconsistencies and a lack of clarity regarding restrictions imposed under martial law and stressed the need for a comprehensive review of the legislation in line with international standards.
Freedom of peaceful assembly is not a key issue in Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations. However, fundamental rights will be assessed as part of the Fundamentals negotiating cluster. Consequently, establishing legislation governing peaceful assemblies will also be relevant.