"Code of Ethics of People's Deputies: Easy to Violate, Difficult to Accept, Impossible to Agree on"

The unethical behavior of some people's deputies shows the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in a bad light, but not because "all people's deputies are like that" (because in this situation it is very easy to make ourselves guilty, if we recall the last parliamentary elections), but because the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine does not have effective mechanisms of separation from people who discredit the whole institution. And you don't have to look far for examples.

The situation regarding another scandal with Mariana Bezuhla, her public statements on social networks highlighted the inability of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to respond adequately to what can be called controversial behavior of the people's deputy. People's deputies during the plenary session did not come to the question of removing her from the position of deputy head of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence of Ukraine. This once again proved the inability of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for parliamentary self-regulation of the unethical and, if frankly, harmful for a democratic institution, behavior of people's deputies. And the statement of Ms. Mariana Bezuhla about her removal from the Servant of the People party even sounds like a mockery: the party was able to, but the parliament was not.

Current legislation, of course, does not prohibit people's deputies from entering into discussions and criticizing certain processes in society, but the behavior of, for example, Mariana Bezuhla has long gone beyond the limits of what is acceptable. This people's deputy repeatedly used public space to attack the military leadership, which can be considered deliberate attempts to destroy the reputation.

However, during the work of the current convocation of the Parliament of Ukraine, not only Mariana Bezuhla got into high-profile scandals. Misunderstandings often arose due to sexist statements (Vasyl Virastiuk and Oleksandr Dubinskyi became the figures of such), offensive behavior and even fights.

Such actions harm the image and destroy trust not only in individual people's deputies, but also in the entire current convocation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the parliament in general. While in other countries, unethical behavior can even lead to the loss of the mandate, the Ukrainian parliament is still significantly limited in ways of influencing the actions of people's deputies. The latest survey of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) shows that trust in state institutions in Ukraine is steadily decreasing, and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is losing it the fastest among all. Thus, the percentage of respondents who trust the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine decreased to 21% in October 2023 from 58% in May 2022. It would be possible to help solve the problem by standardizing the rules of ethical behavior of people's deputies in public space, but the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine constantly postpones this issue for discussion in the future.

 

Why is it almost impossible to influence the unethical behavior of people's deputies now?

Currently, the behavior of people's deputies has been regulated only partially. Some rules of ethical behavior during plenary sessions are contained in the Law of Ukraine "On the Status of a People's Deputy" and the regulations of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

For example, according to the regulations, if a people's deputy during a speech resorts to insulting other people's deputies, the chairman can issue him a warning or stop the speech. In addition, a people's deputy can be suspended from participating in a maximum of five meetings for making offensive statements towards other parliamentarians. To do this, people's deputies or factions must submit a corresponding application to the committee on regulations.

Among the current members of the Ukrainian Parliament, in 2021, people's deputy from "Servant of the People" party Halina Tretiakova received such a punishment for making an offensive statement about the death of another people's deputy, Anton Poliakov.

However, these norms are not enough and they are not effective enough to prevent unethical acts and public scandals involving people's deputies outside the territory of the session hall, which shake the already weak trust of the people in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and destroy the subjectivity of the most important democratic institution of Ukraine.

In addition, without an adopted Code of Ethics with clear norms, sanctions for "unethical behavior of people's deputies" can be applied selectively, which will create a huge field for manipulation.

For example, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine repeatedly denied the right to participate in plenary meetings of people's deputy Heo Leros. After the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine suspended him from sitting again in February 2023, the people's deputy filed a lawsuit against the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine – and won, the decision was declared illegal. In its decision, the Supreme Court of Ukraine refers to the fact that, in accordance with the provisions of parts 4 and 5 of Article 51 of the Regulations of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine can deprive a people's deputy of the right to participate in plenary sessions if he utters offensive words to another people's deputy. In addition, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine may deprive a people's deputy of the right to participate in plenary meetings of the parliamentary faction (deputy group). At the same time, "insulting – if they are considered as such – words about the head of the office of the President of Ukraine cannot be a legal basis for depriving a people's deputy of Ukraine (...) of the right to participate in the plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for more than half a year (under conditions of martial law in Ukraine)".

 

The solution is ready

At the end of 2022, a group of people's deputies from various factions and groups, on the initiative of Viktoriia Podhorna, a deputy from "Servant of the People", registered draft law No. 8327 "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding the Rules of Ethical Behavior of People's Deputies (Code of Ethics)". It implements uniform norms of ethical behavior for people's deputies and forms a system of monitoring and control over their observance.

The working group on the reform of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has been working on the key ideas and provisions embodied in this document for almost 10 years and two convocations. People's deputies of various convocations and factions, as well as representatives of the expert environment, including the Laboratory of Legislative Initiatives, were included in it. Therefore, the current version of the draft law was the result of intra-parliamentary consultations (that is, it is the result of internal inter-party consensus), was developed in cooperation with civil society and is based on international experience and recognized principles: the document contains norms that work successfully in many countries. 

According to the draft law, people's deputies will be obliged to observe norms of ethical behavior not only in the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, but also in professional activities in general, for example, when communicating with colleagues and other officials, in the media and social networks, etc. The people's deputy will be obliged to refrain from obscene language; humiliating, offensive or discriminatory statements (oral and written); any actions that degrade the honor of a person or a group of people based on race, political, religious beliefs, etc. At the same time, these norms will not affect the behavior of people's deputies in private life. 

The draft law also provides for the creation of a separate committee in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which will be responsible for monitoring the observance of discipline and rules of deputy ethics. The committee will consider complaints against people's deputies who have violated parliamentary ethics, will resolve the issue of their responsibility in the event of a violation being detected, and will report to the parliament in accordance with its powers.

The document offers a wide range of sanctions for violations of ethical standards. If the violation occurred once, the people's deputy will receive a warning from the Ethics Committee of Ukraine; if the violation occurred twice during the year, the people's deputy will be required to attend a course on compliance with the norms of deputy ethics, during which he will be suspended from participating in plenary sessions. Further violations may result in deprivation of the right to attend not only plenary sessions, but also meetings of committees, temporary investigators or special commissions for a period of up to one month, as well as deprivation of benefits.

If the current convocation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine had adopted this law, it would have received an effective Code of Ethics by now. This would force many people's deputies to reconsider their behavior and statements in public space. And the parliament would have a clear mechanism for countering the unprofessional behavior of some of its representatives, which would allow it to distance itself from reputational problems caused by an individual person. In addition, the legal possibility to "punish" the violator of discipline will increase the subjectivity of the parliament.

 

The draft law is there. Why hasn't it been adopted yet?

For more than a year, the draft law lay on the shelves of the offices of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine without any progress on the legislative path. This is primarily due to the fact that many people's deputies, meaning "new faces", do not understand the importance of the Code of Ethics for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and some veteran deputies do not want to adjust their behavior in accordance with the upcoming new rules. 

However, traditionally for Ukrainian reform processes, this issue was brought up to date by the "western auditor" –  the former president of the European Parliament and the main facilitator of the Monet Dialogues (deputy platform for agreeing on parliamentary reform) Patrick Cox. In January, another round of the Monet Dialogues took place in Kyiv, during which Mr. Cox tried to find a compromise between the initiators of the Code of Ethics of Ukraine and its opposition. It so happened that the opposition, represented by the head of the regulatory committee, Serhii Kalchenko, proposed its own version of the Code of Ethics of Ukraine with its own rules and principles of conduct. But only such an alternative, as is often the case in Ukrainian law-making practice, creates only a visible solution to the problem.

The committee version of the draft law has not yet acquired the form of a registered draft law. But the document has already been distributed among some people's deputies involved in this issue. People's deputies who received the text emphasize that it provides for only minimal changes to the current legislation, its provisions contradict world practice and do not establish effective mechanisms for monitoring compliance with deputy ethics.

And this is only the tip of the iceberg of problems hidden in the committee's proposals. A closer look at the document reveals a number of other shortcomings:

1. Such a draft law, in case of its adoption, will become effective only for "successors". That is, it will already be relevant only for the tenth convocation. The current convocation will never receive the Code of Ethics. Setting rules that you don't want to follow yourself is not a good role model, on the one hand, and on the other hand, unethical behavior will remain the "norm" for some current people's deputies. According to the logic of international standards, the parliament that adopts the Code of Ethics of Ukraine should demonstrate leadership and serve as an example in its application.
2. The principles and norms of behavior of people's deputies correlate with the norms of existing legislation or even duplicate them; they are far from international standards.
3. The rules of ethical behavior are proposed to be limited exclusively within the limits of the parliament, although the relevant norms are already prescribed in the regulations. This is a narrow interpretation of the rules of ethics for people's deputies, which, moreover, does not change the existing state of affairs.
4. The body responsible for monitoring discipline and deputy ethics will be formed according to the general quota principle, i.e. without observing the principle of parity (50% of coalition representatives and 50% of the opposition), as well as without observing gender parity.
5. Lack of a mechanism for appealing the committee's decisions regarding deputies, the ability to organize training for them and provide recommendations on behavior, the committee's obligation to report on its work. Such changes will mean the removal of the specialized committee from the formation of the institution of accountability of people's deputies of Ukraine.

Therefore, the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the Rules of Procedure, parliamentary ethics of people's deputies and organization of the work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine completely rewrote the text, excluding from it the provisions on which parliamentarians and the expert community had reached a compromise earlier. While the main draft law is close to the standards and norms adopted in the world, the alternative proposals of the committee in the case of their adoption will nullify the very idea of creating the Code of Ethics of the people's deputy and will distance the legislation of Ukraine in this area from generally accepted standards.

The adoption of Ukraine's Code of Ethics for People's Deputies in the version developed by the Working Group on the Reform of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is an important and necessary step for the institutional development of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. It is this document that complies with international practice and implements effective control mechanisms over the ethical behavior of people's deputies. In addition, the very fact of its adoption will show that in its work the parliament is guided by global values and practices and relies on a culture of dignity and honesty when making political decisions for society. The adoption of this law will introduce clear criteria for assessing the ethical behavior of a people's deputy, and the unethical behavior of some of them will not undermine the subjectivity of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. 

Read this article in Ukrainian and russian.