The military ombudsman as an institutional guarantee for the protection of military personnel rights (based on foreign experience)

Abstract

The article draws attention to the fact that today, in the conditions of Russian aggression, the state of compliance with the rights of domestic servicemen has significantly deteriorated, which requires the improvement of the constitutional and legal tools for their protection. The foreign experience of developed democratic countries in solving the problem of effectively ensuring the rights of the military through the introduction of specialized ombudsmen in the affairs of the armed forces is analyzed. The legal nature of military ombudsmen as specialized human rights institutions that have proven themselves positively in a number of states, the history of their introduction, and the positive consequences of their functioning are studied. Considerable attention in the work is devoted to the models of specialized ombudsmen in the affairs of the armed forces: a) regarding their legislative recognition and regulation of legal status (at the level of the country’s constitution, law or by-law); b) places in the structure of state power (parliamentary and executive); c) models that are structurally part of the armed forces; are not part of the armed forces, but are authorized to deal exclusively with military issues and ombudsmen of general competence, in which the function of protecting the rights of military personnel is provided for by law; d) individual ombudsmen and collegial ombudsman services; e) various models of ombudsmen in the affairs of the armed forces, depending on the scope and specificity of their powers. It was concluded that for Ukraine in the conditions of war, the introduction of the institute of the military ombudsman is not just timely, it is extremely necessary. The emergence of this institution, on the one hand, will complement the existing means of protecting the constitutional rights and freedoms of the military, on the other hand, it will contribute to the maintenance of their faith in justice, which will generally neutralize the wary attitude of military personnel towards the authorities, and mitigate conflicts between the state, its bodies, and the military. The military ombudsman, exercising his supervisory and human rights powers, will not only contribute to the effective protection of the rights of the military, but also mitigate the contradictions between the state and civil spheres, promote the democratization of the national military sphere, which under his influence should become more responsive to needs and requests of military personnel, which will ultimately guarantee the “democratization” of the military bureaucracy, which, thanks to his activities, will show more attention, sympathy and concern for military personnel.