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JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF THE PRINCIPLES FORMED IN INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS
STANDARDS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PENITENTIARY SYSTEM IN UKRAINE

MYKHAILO YATSYSHYN,

PETRO HLAMAZDA,

ALLA

HOROT,

SVITLANA BULAVINA

ZINAIDA SAMCHUK-

KOLODIAZHNA,

OKSANA STARCHUK

a,b,d

Department of theory and hystory of state and law, Lesya

Ukrainka Volyn National University, 28 Vinnichenko str.,
Building 30, 43021, Lutsk, Volyn region, Ukraine

Department of

constitutional, administrative and international

law

, Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, 28 Vinnichenko

str., Building 30, 43021, Lutsk, Volyn region, Ukraine

e,f

emails:

Department of

civil and juridical disciplines

, Lesya Ukrainka

Volyn National University, 28 Vinnichenko str., Building 30,
43021, Lutsk, Volyn region, Ukraine

iatsyshyn.mychailo@eenu.edu.ua,

glamazda.lawyer@gmail.com,

allagorot78@ukr.net,

sbul16@ukr.net,

samchuk48@ukr.net,

oksana-

starchuk@ukr.net

Abstract: The article examines the process of the principles implementation from
international human rights standards in the national penitentiary legislation and the
practice of execution and serving of sentences in Ukraine and identifies the features of
the criminal-executive system transformation into a penitentiary system. The influence
of the implementation of the international standards of convicts` treatment on the
development of criminal-executive legislation in the aspect of the integration of the
current criminal-executive legislation of Ukraine into the standards of the European
Union is investigated. The substantive essence of the criminal-executive legislation
principles is determined and substantiated, based on the practice of their application
and scientific analysis of the definitions used in the legislation.

Keywords: international standards, human rights, the penitentiary system, the rights of
convicts

1 Introduction

Ukraine`s foreign policy is aimed at integration into the
European Union. This necessitates the implementation of the
international treaties provisions, as well as compliance with
international obligations to respect and protect universal human
rights and freedoms, including those serving sentences. Since the
principles of law, which are enshrined in criminal law, become
the basis on which all activities for the execution of criminal
penalties should be built, the essence of these principles is of
scientific interest, remaining relevant in the modern doctrine of
the criminal law of Ukraine. Among them the principle of the
criminal-executive legislation, execution, and serving of
punishments, fixed in Art. 5 of the Criminal-Executive Code of
Ukraine (hereinafter – the CEC of Ukraine), as respect for
human rights and freedoms. This principle is intended to ensure
respect for the internationally recognized human rights and
freedoms, humane treatment of convicts and to minimize the
difference between living conditions in penitentiary institutions
(hereinafter – PI) and at large.

The task of further reforming the criminal-executive system of
Ukraine requires the introduction into national criminal-
executive legislation and the practice of execution and serving of
sentences due to the principles formed in international human
rights standards.

This issue is now extremely relevant because in accordance with
the requirements of the European Community in modern
Ukraine is ongoing the process of criminal-executive system
transformation into the penitentiary, taking into account the
requirements of international human rights standards.
The principle of respect for human rights and freedoms, in
addition to international documents in the field of human rights
protection, is enshrined in international acts of a specialized
nature. Among scholars of the criminal-executive law, they are
called international standards of treatment of convicts
(hereinafter – IST). Despite the enshrinement of the principle of
respect for human rights and freedoms in criminal-executive
legislation, there are a number of unresolved issues regarding it.
In particular, the implementation of some provisions of

international standards of treatment of convicts in national law,
because they are important not only for the science of criminal-
executive law but also for the practice of execution of sentences.

2 Literature review

In the Ukrainian legal doctrine the issues of realization of the
principles formed in the international standards on human rights
and execution of punishments were investigated in the works of
O. M. Dzhuzha (2001, 2002), V. A. Lyovochkin (2002), and
others. In particular, theoretical and practical aspects, as well as
problems of implementation of international standards of
treatment of convicts and their impact on national legislation,
theory, and practice of execution of sentences were studied by
such scientists as M. I. Dziamulych (2020). A. P. Gel (2008),
V. A. Lyovochkin

(2002), T. V. Rudnyk

(2010),

O. B. Ptashynskyi (2002), A. H. Stepaniuk (2007), T. O.
Shmatkovska (2020), I. S. Yakovets (2013) and others.

At the same time, a number of studies in this area were
conducted before the adoption of the Criminal-Executive Code,
and some studies were devoted exclusively to the
implementation of the principles enshrined in modern national
legislation without regard to international standards on these
issues.

3 Material and methods

The purpose of the article is to study the impact of the principles
formed in international standards on the development of
criminal-executive legislation, in particular the study of
international acts in the field of human rights and international
standards of treatment of convicts to maximize their
implementation and approximate current criminal-executive
legislation of Ukraine. to the generally accepted standards of
most European countries.

4 Result and discussion

International legal acts in the field of human rights protection
play an important role in the legislation of Ukraine. In the future,
this requires their implementation and a number of amendments
to laws and regulations to ensure that national legislation
(including criminal-executive as part of it) is in line with
international obligations.

It should be noted that after the Second World War, the process
of forming the priority of human rights and freedoms began.
Since then, the concept of the need for international cooperation
in the field of universal respect and observance of human rights
and fundamental freedoms has become widespread in the world (
and their consolidation in a number of international documents.
For example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
UN Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial
Discrimination, the Convention for the Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and others. (

United

Nations, 2006

;

United Nations, 1948

;

Council of Europe, 1950

;

Joseph and Castan, 2013; UNICEF, 1966). These international
documents have been ratified by more than 100 countries,
including Ukraine, which at that time was part of the Soviet
Union.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is one of the first
international human rights instruments adopted by the UN General
Assembly. Its Preamble states that one of the tasks of the Universal
Declaration is to respect and ensure human rights and freedoms.
Therefore, it is reasonable to say that its norms have become
universally recognized customary norms of international law,
which determine international human rights standards that must be
observed by all countries (Kupakin, 2010).

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