Despite the high risks volunteers face during the war, the mechanism for their protection remains weak. The Center for Democracy and Rule of Law (CEDEM) emphasizes the urgent need to bring Bill No. 10040 to its first reading in Parliament. The bill aims to create conditions for non-profit organizations to insure the life and health of volunteers.
The document, registered back in September 2023, is supported by more than 60 Members of Parliament as well as the donor community, including the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, reports Humanitarian Media Hub, citing CEDEM’s website.
The bill seeks to address a key problem—high tax rates and the lack of specialized insurance products, which make it nearly impossible for organizations to insure volunteers. This leaves those who help Ukraine and its citizens every day at serious risk.
“Due to the limited scope of Cabinet Resolution No. 604, the question of alternative mechanisms for supporting volunteers has arisen. One such solution is life and health insurance for volunteers. The Law of Ukraine ‘On Volunteer Activity’ allows organizations to insure volunteers, but provisions of the Tax Code regarding taxation of insurance payments make widespread use of this practice impossible. High tax rates and the absence of specialized insurance products mean that organizations rarely insure volunteers, which negatively affects their safety,” CEDEM’s statement reads.
Currently, Cabinet Resolution No. 604 provides for a one-time payment to volunteers who became disabled as a result of combat and to families of deceased volunteers. However, its application is limited: from 2015 to August 2025, only 36 people received such assistance. The reason—legal conflicts and difficulties in confirming injury. Volunteers who helped civilians have no right to this support at all.
CEDEM proposes to resume an open dialogue with ministries and agencies to develop a compromise bill that would ensure real insurance protection for volunteers.
The Center for Democracy and Rule of Law is a Ukrainian analytical and advocacy center founded in February 2005 in Kyiv under the name Media Law Institute. In 2016, it was renamed CEDEM to reflect its broader scope of activities—from media law to democratization of society.
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