Monitoring the Transparency of Ukrainian Parliamentary Committees
A 2025 transparency audit by the 'Chesno' movement reveals that Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada is violating legal requirements, with eight of its committees failing to publish video recordings of their sessions. This marks the sixth such annual analysis conducted since 2020. The findings are particularly significant following the enactment of Law No. 4212-IX, which mandates that committees publish meeting videos within 24 hours. This law is part of ongoing efforts to strengthen democratic accountability in Ukraine.
The 2025 audit results show:
- Eight committees published no meeting videos at all;
- A further six committees only partially complied with the requirement;
- Fifteen committees had gaps in publishing other key documents, such as agendas, minutes, transcripts, and information on decisions.
The transparency ranking assessed 23 committees. Three committees achieved the maximum score of 11 points: the Committee on Digital Transformation, the Committee on National Health and Medical Care, and the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy.
Top Performers and the Lowest Ranked
The leading committees in the ranking include:
- The Human Rights Committee;
- The Anti-Corruption Policy Committee;
- The Committee on State Power;
- The Social Policy Committee;
- The Energy Committee.
Conversely, six committees scored less than half the available points, placing them at the bottom of the ranking:
- The National Security and Defense Committee;
- The Law Enforcement Committee;
- The Transport and Infrastructure Committee;
- The Agrarian and Land Policy Committee;
- The Foreign Policy Committee;
- The Finance, Tax, and Customs Policy Committee.
The eight committees that published no videos in 2025 were:
- The National Security and Defense Committee;
- The Transport and Infrastructure Committee;
- The Agrarian and Land Policy Committee;
- The Budget Committee;
- The Economic Development Committee;
- The Legal Policy Committee;
- The Finance, Tax, and Customs Policy Committee;
- The Law Enforcement Committee.
The Law Enforcement Committee notably stopped publishing its agendas on July 22, 2025, only resuming the practice in late September 2025. Furthermore, this committee has published a recording of just one meeting since the start of the full-scale invasion—from November 29, 2024.
In a related development, the Verkhovna Rada resumed live broadcasts of its plenary sessions in September 2025 after a nearly four-year pause. Against this backdrop, nine committees systematically published videos of every meeting, while six did so only partially. Some committees, including those for Energy, Anti-Corruption Policy, Social Policy, Freedom of Speech, and Legal Policy, publish minutes as scanned documents. However, the Transport and Infrastructure Committee and the National Security and Defense Committee have not established a dedicated platform for video publication.
Therefore, despite clear legal obligations, a significant number of parliamentary committees are failing to meet transparency requirements, raising serious concerns about the legislature's operational openness.
This situation underscores the urgent need for improved communication and transparency within the work of parliamentary committees, especially given contemporary demands for governmental accountability. In an environment where public scrutiny of institutions is intensifying, these monitoring results could serve as a foundation for future reforms and enhancements to the legislation governing the Verkhovna Rada's operations.