The right to freedom of movement during a wartime

Abstract

The right to freedom of movement is a fundamental human right, which is accepted as the ability of everyone to move and freely choose their place of residence, freely leave any country, including their own. In the conditions of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, there is a need to reconsider the permanent approaches to understanding the essence of this right and its key aspects.
 It was determined that the consequences of the full-scale invasion became a trigger for one of the most massive migration flows from Ukraine to other states, in particular to the countries of the European Union. This has caused a certain easing in the aspect of the procedure for traveling abroad and has permitted people to leave Ukraine without documents for traveling abroad.
 It is justified that the right to freedom of movement is not absolute and, accordingly, may be subject to restrictions, which, nevertheless, must meet the requirements of legality, proportionality of such restrictions, and the legitimacy of their purpose. Thus, freedom of movement may be restricted, in particular, in territories where a state of war or emergency has been imposed, as well as in temporarily occupied territories. It was established that in order to prevent the violation of the right to freedom of movement, a number of measures are taken, including, in particular, the inspection of regulatory legal acts for the presence of corruption risks, which is carried out by the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption.
 It has been analyzed that possible violations of the right to freedom of movement, in particular cases of forced relocation of Ukrainian citizens to the territory of the aggressor state, may constitute crimes punishable by the International Criminal Court. It was determined that there is a need to reclassify such acts from a crime against humanity to a crime of genocide in view of the focus of the aggressor state on the concrete and intentional destruction of the Ukrainian national group.