Almanac of law. Issue 16 (2025), pages 219–227.

DOI: 10.33663/2524-017X-2025-16-219-227

Kryvytskyi Y. V.
Ensuring human rights as a goal of legal reform under martial law and the post-war period

The article summarises, expands and substantiates the scientific knowledge about ensuring human rights as the goal of legal reform in the wartime and post-war periods. The nature of human rights in the modern legal doctrine is investigated. Human rights are the social ability to act freely, to choose the type and extent of one’s behaviour independently in order to satisfy one’s own diverse material and spiritual interests, as well as the interests of other people, individual societies and society as a whole; certain human capabilities that are necessary to meet the needs of one’s existence and development in specific historical conditions, objectively determined by the level of progress achieved by society and ensured by the obligations of other subjects.

It is found that in the general scale of social values, human rights, like the human being himself, occupy a central place and prevail over all others. Their priority and importance are undeniable, and their role and purpose are obvious. The human dimension, human centrism, and anthropocentrism are the essence of any social transformation, the starting point for solving global and current problems, carrying out various reforms, and developing national programmes. At present, it is from these ideological and ideological perspectives that all events in the country and the world are assessed. The degree to which human rights are actually ensured is an important indicator of the level of civilisation achieved by society and the state. Human rights are the highest humanistic value; without them, the very essence of the human personality and the meaning of its existence is lost.

The approaches to defining the goal of legal reform through the prism of human rights are analyzed. The legal literature presents different views on the goal (goals) of legal reform, that is, the ideal image of the future, the desired result of significant, qualitative, evolutionary, progressive changes in objective law. In the prognostic and axiological dimensions, legal reform is a set of ideal goals that a person, society and the state strive for, as well as mechanisms for their implementation. The goal of legal transformation is an element of the structure of legal reform, since changing the goal means changing the essence of legal reform.

The problematic issues of protection and defense of human rights as the goal of legal reform in martial law and the post-war period are discussed. It is proven that legal reform is aimed at creating effective mechanisms for the protection and defense of human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to national minorities, strengthening respect for democratic principles, the rule of law and good governance. The legal regime of martial law is that chronologically defined period when restrictions on human rights are both permissible and fully justified. We must be united within the state and strong in the continued struggle to protect human rights in Ukraine and achieve victory.

 Key words: human rights, human rights doctrine, human rights enforcement, reform, legal reform, goal of legal reform.

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