The role of the ECHR Commissioner in the system of entities that ensure the protection of human and citizen rights and freedoms (administrative-legal aspect)

Abstract

The article analyzes the role and place of the ECHR Commissioner in the system of entities that ensure the protection of human and citizen rights and freedoms in Ukraine. It has been established that over the past thirty years, a system of public-authority subjects has been formed in Ukraine, the main duty of which is to ensure the protection of human and citizen rights and freedoms. It was established that the term “system of public-authority entities” means the coordinated work of all elements that make up such a system. However, the analysis of special literature shows that only a few scientific sources try, firstly, to name a complete list of elements of such a system, and secondly, to characterize its interaction among themselves as elements of a single system. It has been proven that the system of entities that ensure the protection of human and citizen rights and freedoms must meet the following criteria: 1) must have a set of elements sufficient for its viability; 2) its elements interact with each other and complement each other, which gives the system integrity and stability; 3) is effective and viable if it is unfavorable to external negative and destructive manifestations. It was found that the concept of “a system of entities that ensure the protection of human and citizen rights and freedoms in Ukraine” is characterized by the following features: a) we are talking about public-authority entities that exercise their powers, firstly, as representatives of legislative, judicial and executive power, secondly, as state bodies that do not belong to any of the branches of state power; b) the term “ensuring protection” allows the subjects of such a system to include not only law enforcement and judicial bodies that directly exercise jurisdictional protection of human and citizen rights and freedoms in the country, but also subjects that perform non-jurisdictional human rights activities. It was concluded that the system of public-authority entities that ensure the protection of human and citizen rights and freedoms in Ukraine includes: 1) entities that establish the principles of protection of human and citizen rights and freedoms and ensure legal regulation of such protection; 2) entities that, in order to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals, carry out jurisdictional (law enforcement) activities; 3) entities administering justice; 4) entities that carry out activities related to the prevention of violations of the rights and freedoms of individuals; 5) subjects carrying out non-jurisdictional human rights activities. Accordingly, the ECHR Commissioner refers to the public-authority subjects of the executive power that carry out non-jurisdictional human rights activities.