SOCIAL RIGHTS IN WARTIME: THE STATE’S POSITIVE OBLIGATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL LEGAL MECHANISMS FOR COMPENSATION FOR DAMAGE

Abstract

The article full-scale war has brought social rights in Ukraine into focus not only within domestic social policy, but also in terms of international responsibility and compensation for damage, since violations of the rights to housing, social protection, medical assistance, education, work, and a dignified standard of living have acquired a massive and systemic character. The article conceptualizes social rights as rights that require effective legal safeguarding even under extraordinary pressure on the state, and links their effectiveness to the public authorities’ capacity to secure minimum standards of human dignity, ensure accessible remedies, and deliver practical restoration of violated rights.

The methodological foundation of the study is the doctrine of positive obligations of the state and the «respect–protect–fulfil» framework, which allows the wartime context to be understood as a situation where mere non-interference is insufficient and where proactive regulatory, organizational, and procedural measures for vulnerable groups are essential. It is substantiated that, in wartime, positive obligations operate as a legal standard of due state conduct that transforms formal guarantees into real opportunities for access to assistance, rehabilitation, and social reintegration.

The article analyzes the international legal framework of reparations through the prism of general principles of state responsibility for internationally wrongful acts and universal standards of the right to an effective remedy and reparation. It outlines the logic of the emerging compensation architecture in which documentation and registration of damage constitute an evidentiary basis for future adjudication of claims, and it identifies practical barriers to the realization of the right to compensation. The study shows that national compensation mechanisms remain fragmented and do not fully cover the range of pecuniary and non-pecuniary losses related to loss of income, health damage, long-term rehabilitation, and the psychosocial consequences of war.

The paper proposes directions for improvement: harmonizing approaches to the recording and assessment of damage, simplifying evidentiary standards for typical wartime scenarios, aligning registers and procedures, and strengthening the institutional capacity of legal aid. It argues that synchronizing the state’s positive obligations with national and international compensation instruments is a prerequisite for the genuine restoration of social rights and the advancement of social justice during war.

Keywords: martial law; European Court of Human Rights; armed aggression; compensation for damage; international responsibility of the state; international human rights protection; positive obligations of the state; reparations; social protection; social rights.