Legal information, not legal advice. Every jurisdiction page carries its verification status and sources.

LawLegianceWorld Legal Atlas

Ukraine

Civil lawUnitary semi-presidential republicReviewed· 2026-08-02
Capital
Kyiv
Population
37,000,000
Languages
Ukrainian
Currency
UAH
Ask about Ukraine
CourtsBodiesHow-to
Compare with another jurisdiction

Ukraine · Rights

Rights in Ukraine

What the atlas records on rights in Ukraine, checked against the primary sources cited below.

Rights

The 1996 constitution operating under martial law

Reviewed· 2026-08-02

The Constitution of 1996 provides an individual constitutional complaint against statutes applied in a final judgment. Martial law has been in force since February 2022, permitting derogation from several rights, though the constitution forbids amendment while it lasts.

Key rules

  • An individual may file a constitutional complaint against a law applied in a final court decision.
  • The Constitution may not be amended during martial law or a state of emergency.
  • Elections cannot be held while martial law is in force.
  • Certain rights, including life, dignity and access to court, may never be derogated from.

Governing law

  • Constitution of Ukraine (1996)As amended in 2016 on the judiciary and 2019 on EU and NATO course.
  • Law on the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (2017)Individual complaint procedure.
  • Law on the legal regime of martial law (2015)Basis of the 2022 derogation.

In practice

A complaint must be lodged within three months of the final decision and must attack the statute rather than the judgment, and the court's docket delays mean years rather than months.

Sources

Rights

ECHR rights under a formal wartime derogation

Reviewed· 2026-08-02

Ukraine has been party to the ECHR since 1997 and notified derogation under Article 15 in 2022. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights is the national ombudsman and the designated national preventive mechanism against torture.

Key rules

  • The Article 15 derogation is territorially and temporally limited and does not suspend the Convention.
  • The Commissioner has unimpeded access to places of detention as the preventive mechanism.
  • Russian jurisdiction findings in interstate cases run in parallel with individual applications.
  • A domestic register of war damage feeds the international compensation mechanism for Ukraine.

Governing law

  • Constitution, Chapter II (1996)Rights, freedoms and duties.
  • Law on the Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights (1997)
  • Law on compensation for damaged and destroyed property (2023)

In practice

Claims for destroyed housing are filed through the Diia application into the state register of damage, and that filing is what preserves the claim for the future international compensation commission.

Sources

Found something out of date on Ukraine · Rights?

Corrections are reviewed against the primary source before anything changes.

Report a correction