Slovo of the National School of Judges of Ukraine. №1(54) 2026. P.50-60

ISSN: 2707-6849   

UDC340.1; 321.01

DOI https://doi.org/10.37566/2707-6849-2026-1(54)-5

PDF

Serhii SUNIEHIN,

 Senior Research Fellow, Department of Theory of State and Law, Institute of State and Law named after V.M. Koretsky NAS of Ukraine, Candidate of Law (PhD), Senior Researcher

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4304-708X

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ensuring and protecting human rights as a function of the state under martial law: essential and instrumental aspects

      Abstract 

The article examines the peculiarities of the transformation of the state's function in ensuring and protecting human rights under martial law. It is noted that one of the main problems of the state's function of ensuring and protecting human rights under martial law is finding the optimal balance between the need to ensure national security and the protection of human rights, the general concept of which is undergoing a significant test, because martial law measures, aimed at strengthening security in the state, often contradict at least some fundamental human rights, in particular, such as the right to liberty and personal integrity, the right to information, freedom of mass assembly, freedom of free movement, etc.

Enshrining in legal norms additional powers of state bodies during the legal regime of martial law, as well as establishing appropriate restrictions on the exercise of individual human rights, creates risks of power abusing, which may lead to violations and/or disproportionate restrictions of human rights (e.g., the risk of administrative detention of citizens and the use of excessive physical force against them, the risk of establishing censorship in the media environment, etc.). In view of the above, there is a need to improve the mechanisms for implementing the state's function of ensuring and protecting human rights under martial law, which should be largely aimed in military or other extraordinary realities at, on the one hand, minimizing the risks of power abusing and establishing disproportionate public and governmental control over the activities of citizens and their associations, and on the other hand, creating additional conditions and guarantees for the implementation of human rights and ensuring their real protection and restoration in the event of their violation.

It is concluded that the main principles of the state's function of ensuring human rights in martial law are proportionality, necessity and temporality. Proportionality implies that measures, restricting human rights and freedoms, must be proportionate to a real threat to the most important public interests and/or national security of the state, necessity requires the establishment of restrictions only in cases of extreme need, and temporality emphasizes that such restrictions can only be temporary in nature and are subject to cancellation in the event of normalization of the situation.

Keywords: ensuring and protecting human rights, functions of the state, proportionality, martial law, national security, civil society, restrictions on human rights.

References

1. Lezhnin K. V. Standarty zabezpechennia prav liudyny v diialnosti Sluzhby bezpeky Ukrainy v umovakh voiennoho stanu. Naukovi zapysky Lvivskoho universytetu biznesu ta prava. Seriia ekonomichna. Seriia yurydychna. 2022. Vyp. 34. S. 93–101. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7105170 (data zvernennia: 09.04.2026)  (in Ukr.).
2. Tsurkan-Saifulina Yu. V. Zabezpechennia prav liudyny yak naivazhlyvishoi konstytutsiinoi katehorii v umovakh voiennoho stanu. Derzhava ta rehiony. Seriia: Pravo. 2023. № 3 (81). S. 200–204. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32782/1813-338X-2023.3.31 (data zvernennia: 09.04.2026)  (in Ukr.).
3. Korniienko M. V. Prava liudyny v umovakh voiennoho stanu: zahalnopravovyi dyskurs. Pivdennoukrainskyi pravnychyi chasopys. 2022. № 1-2. S. 27–31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32850/sulj.2022.1-2.5 (data zvernennia: 09.04.2026)   (in Ukr.).

4. Ivantsov V., Bakhmat V. Zakhyst prav liudyny v umovakh viiny: rol derzhavy v zberezhenni naivyshchykh tsinnostei. Vyklyky tolerantnosti v umovakh rosiiskoi voiennoi ahresii: materialy vseukrainskoi naukovo-dyskusiinoi platformy, yaka pryurochena do Mizhnarodnoho dnia tolerantnosti  (m. Kropyvnytskyi, Donetskyi derzhavnyi universytet vnutrishnikh sprav, 22 lystopada 2024 roku). Kropyvnytskyi: DonDUVS, 2024. S. 28–30 (in Ukr.).

5. Kubko A. Ye. Proportsiinist obmezhen prav liudyny: osoblyvosti v umovakh voiennoho stanu. Pravova derzhava. 2023. Vyp. 34. S. 101–111. DOI: 10.33663/1563-3349-2023-34-101-111. URL:  http://jnas.nbuv.gov.ua/article/UJRN-0001449213 (data zvernennia: 09.04.2026) (in Ukr.).

6. Biloskurska O. V. Prava liudyny v umovakh zbroinoho konfliktu: sudovyi zakhyst ta standarty spravedlyvoho sudovoho rozghliadu. Sotsialnyi rozvytok: ekonomiko-pravovi problemy. 2025. № 7-8. S. 1–7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.70651/3083-6018/2025.7-8.08. URL: https://www.eu-scientists.com/index.php/sdel/article/view/307/296 (data zvernennia: 09.04.2026) (in Ukr.).

7. Nikolenko L. M. Zakhyst prav liudyny v umovakh voiennoho stanu. Naukovyi visnyk Uzhhorodskoho natsionalnoho universytetu. Seriia Pravo. 2025. Vyp. 91. Ch. 1. S. 207–212. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24144/2307-3322.2025.91.1.30 (data zvernennia: 09.04.2026) (in Ukr.).

8. Savchyn M. V. Instytutsiina stiikist systemy pravosuddia ta viina. Suchasni vyklyky ta aktualni problemy sudovoi reformy v Ukraini: materialy VIII Mizhnar. nauk.-prakt. konf. (m. Chernivtsi, 31 zhovtnia 2024 r.) / redkol.: Shcherbaniuk O. V. ta in. Chernivtsi: Chernivetskyi natsionalnyi universytet im. Yuriia Fedkovycha, 2024. S. 47–54 (in Ukr.).

9. Tolkachova I. A., Omelchenko N. V. Mekhanizmy zakhystu prav liudyny v umovakh voiennoho stanu. Elektronne naukove vydannia «Analitychno-porivnialne pravoznavstvo». 2025. Vyp. 5. Tom 1. S. 146–151. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24144/2788-6018.2025.05.1.25. URL: http://journal-app.uzhnu.edu.ua/article/view/341918/329842 (data zvernennia: 09.04.2026) (in Ukr.).

10. Pushkarenko S. Instytut ombudsmena systemy zakhystu prav liudyny: zarubizhnyi dosvid dlia Ukrainy. Tavriiskyi naukovyi visnyk. Seriia: Publichne upravlinnia ta administruvannia. 2024. № 1. S. 82–88. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32782/tnv-pub.2024.1.11 (data zvernennia: 09.04.2026) (in Ukr.). 

SuggestedCitation: Suniehin, S. (2026) Ensuring and protecting human rights as a function of the state under martial law: essential and instrumental aspects. Slovo National School of Judges of Ukraine, 1 (54), 50–60. https://doi.org/10.37566/2707-6849-2026-1(54)-5 

Date of first submission of the article to the publication: 27.03.2026

Date of acceptance of the article for publication after review: 13.04.2026

Date of publication (publication): 22.04.2026