«The Policy of the Council of Europe on Human Rights Implementation and Protection in Eastern European Countries»
Students Name: Orlov Serhii Yuriiovych
Qualification Level: magister
Speciality: International Relations
Institute: Institute of the Humanities and Social Sciences
Mode of Study: full
Academic Year: 2023-2024 н.р.
Language of Defence: англійська
Abstract: The relevance of the research. Based on the characterization of the modern world system as endowed with qualitatively new principles of conducting both foreign and domestic policy, at the beginning of the 21st century we see an increase in the confrontation between democratic and non-democratic actors of international relations. This endangers the existence of a democratic system of values, which is based, first of all, on the system of human rights protection. In the European region, the fundamental intergovernmental institution protecting human rights is the Council of Europe. One of the spheres of influence of this institution, which implements the policy of implementation and protection of human rights, is the region of Eastern Europe. The object of the research is human rights in the system of international legal relations The subject of the research is the Council of Europe’s policy on the implementation and protection of human rights in the countries of the Eastern European region The purpose of the research is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms, tools and practices of the Council of Europe on the implementation and protection of human rights in the countries of the Eastern European region. The paper analyzes the issues of human rights within the framework of the policy of the Council of Europe. It was found that the legal aspect of the study of human rights issues is the most extensive one. The dynamics of the historical and legal foundations of the development of the organization are characterized, the institutional dimension and the regulatory and legal framework of the Council of Europe in the field of human rights protection are analyzed. Features of the functioning of the control and monitoring mechanism of the Council of Europe in the field of implementation and protection of human rights were identified. A comparison of the mechanisms and tools of the Council of Europe in the field of human rights protection was carried out using the example of Eastern European countries: Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Russia, the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia), Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. It was found that the policy of the Council of Europe in the field of human rights protection in this region is carried pointwise. In particular, it is based on adopted Action Plans for specific states. It was established that each Action Plan in the studied states promotes certain categories of human rights, carrying out various projects and initiatives aimed at the implementation and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In particular, the fact of the organization’s cooperation with the opposition forces of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, as well as with the civil society sector, was established. The Moldovan direction is based, first of all, on strengthening the effectiveness of criminal proceedings, in particular the judicial process. It has also been proven that Georgia in the policy of the Council of Europe is also associated with a powerful, compared to the above-mentioned states, policy regarding the protection of the rights of the SOGIESC group, issues of harmonization of legislation in the area of justice, as well as the protection of a number of political rights. It has been proven that the Council of Europe cooperates with Armenia and Azerbaijan, in particular, in promoting the ratification (in the case of Armenia) and signing (in the case of Azerbaijan) a number of framework conventions of the organization. At the same time, the implementation of the policy of the Council of Europe in the Baltic States is based on the harmonization of the Conventions of the organization, EU legislation and the national legislation of these states. For Latvia and Lithuania, the policy of the Council of Europe in the field of protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms is carried out, first of all, from the standpoint of issues of gender equality and the promotion and ratification of the provisions of the 2011 Istanbul Convention. It has been established that Ukraine occupies one of the leading positions in the policy of the Council of Europe for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the region of Eastern Europe. This follows, first of all, from the fact that there are a large number of projects. Possible scenarios and recommendations for improving the policy of the Council of Europe in the field of human rights protection were also developed. Among the scenarios, three key ones were singled out: the scenario of cooperation with states tending towards non-democracy; the scenario of cooperation with the states that are members of the European Union; the scenario of the cooperation of states seeking to join the EU or rapprochement with European democracy. Among a number of recommendations, we single out increasing the toolkit for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, introducing appropriate tactics and strategies that, in particular, can strengthen the civil sector in non-democratic countries and increasing the project component of the Council of Europe’s policy through the introduction of interstate projects. Keywords – Council of Europe, human rights, ECHR, control and monitoring mechanism, policy in the field of human rights protection, Eastern Europe, European Court of Human Rights. List of used literature sources: 1. Abbakumova, D. (2020). Membership in the Council of Europe and protection of Human Rights. Uridicnij Naukovij Elektronnij Zurnal, 3, 439-445. 2. Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (with protocols) (1950). Available from: https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/d/echr/convention_ENG 3. Council of Europe: website (2014). Available from: https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/home 4. Spano, R. (2018). The Future of the European Court of Human Rights–Subsidiarity, Process–Based Review and the Rule of Law. Human Rights Law Review, 18 (3), 473–494.