Almanac of law. Issue 17 (2026), pages 253–257.

DOI: 10.33663/2524-017X-2026-17-253-257

Bondaruk V. O.
Mechanisms for the implementation of human rights in armed conflicts in the scholarly legacy of professor V. Vasylenko

The article examines the mechanisms for the implementation and protection of human rights in situations of armed conflict through the doctrinal legacy of Professor Volodymyr Vasylenko. It analyses his concept of international legal responsibility as a structural element of the international legal order and explores the theoretical significance of distinguishing between positive and negative responsibility. Positive responsibility is understood as an active and constructive obligation of the state to ensure the effective implementation of international legal norms, while negative responsibility arises from internationally wrongful acts and is aimed at restoring the violated legal order and protecting the rights of affected subjects.

The study argues that within Vasylenko’s doctrinal framework, aggression may be conceptualized as a primary international wrongful act that generates a complex of derivative violations, including large-scale human rights infringements. In this perspective, the protection of human rights in times of war cannot be reduced to documenting individual violations but requires addressing the foundational act that destabilizes the international legal order. The article further examines Vasylenko’s differentiation between international legal responsibility and international sanctions, emphasizing that sanctions constitute a lawful form of international coercion but do not substitute responsibility, which encompasses legal qualification of the wrongful act and full reparation of damage.

Special attention is given to the institutional dimension of responsibility, including the role of international criminal justice in ensuring accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. The author demonstrates that Vasylenko’s doctrinal constructions correspond to the later codification efforts reflected in the International Law Commission’s Articles on State Responsibility (2001) and remain highly relevant in the context of contemporary armed aggression against Ukraine. The article concludes that Vasylenko’s theoretical model provides a coherent analytical framework for understanding the interconnection between responsibility, sanctions, prevention, and institutional justice as mutually reinforcing mechanisms of human rights protection in armed conflicts.

Keywords: international legal responsibility, positive responsibility, sanctions, aggression, human rights, international humanitarian law, international legal order. international criminal justice, reparations, armed conflict.

References

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Дата першого надходження рукопису до видання: 27.02.2026
Дата прийнятого до друку рукопису після рецензування: 09.04.2026
Дата публікації: 30.04.2026