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Journal of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine

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Experience of Legislative Activities of the Verhovna Rada of Ukraine on Regulating the Exercise of the Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly

Mykola A. Sambor

Received 18.01.2026, Revised 18.03.2026, Accepted 31.03.2026

Abstract

The article examines the issue of legislative work in the field of legislative regulation of the use and exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in Ukraine. In the legal doctrine, scholars and subjects of constitutional jurisdiction have repeatedly emphasized the need for legislative regulation of certain aspects related to the use and exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. The legal system of Ukraine has been going through a thorny path of improvement and development for over 30 years, including norms related to the use, exercise and realization of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, which can be formed in certain periods. At the same time, an important event that prompted the legislator to develop the analyzed draft laws was the adoption of relevant decisions by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, as well as a number of socio-political events that took place in Ukraine, with which the use and exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly are inextricably linked. The quantitative and qualitative indicators of lawmaking, the quality of draft laws, their clarity, comprehensibility and consistency with the system of current legislation of Ukraine, compliance with constitutional norms and requests of civil society were analyzed. The study covered the draft laws “On guarantees of freedom of peaceful assembly”, “On the procedure for organizing and holding peaceful events”, “On freedom of peaceful assembly”, doctrinal views on lawmaking in the field of regulating the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in Ukraine. The study allowed us to draw conclusions that the lawmaking, using a positivist position, tends to impose additional obligations on the subjects of exercising the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, thereby interfering in the natural-legal sphere of the use and exercise of rights and freedoms, including the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. Instead, the draft legislative norms do not regulate the issues of the powers of public administration bodies during the use and exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, and do not resolve the issue of the concept of "early notification" as a key obligation and the deadline for the implementation of such an obligation by the subject of the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. Based on an in-depth analysis, substantiated and motivated conclusions were made regarding the quality of the draft laws and the feasibility of their improvement, as well as the importance for civil society of the adoption and introduction of relevant legislative acts into the legislation of Ukraine. It was found that in Ukraine, legislative work on regulating the use and exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly is characterized by sinusoidal fluctuations, caused primarily by the emergence and decline of social tension. Such work does not have a methodological basis aimed at resolving the important issue of the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.

Keywords:

the right to freedom of peaceful assembly; lawmaking; draft law; legislative regulation of human and civil rights

https://doi.org/10.31359/1993-0909-2026-33-1-31

Retrieved from Journal NALSU №1, 2026 year

Pages 31-52

References Suggested citation

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Suggested citation

Mykola A. Sambor (2026). Experience of Legislative Activities of the Verhovna Rada of Ukraine on Regulating the Exercise of the Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly. Journal of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, 33(1), 31-52. https://doi.org/10.31359/1993-0909-2026-33-1-31