The dissertation is devoted to justifying the theoretical and methodological framework for human rights activities in Ukraine and formulating propositions to improve the current constitutional law pertaining to the assertion, guarantees and protection of human rights and freedoms.
It is justified that the human rights activities pertaining to protection of human rights and freedoms constitute an autonomous type of constitutional legal relationship by object-subject structure, grounds for occurrences, change, cessation and renewal. The subject, method and forms of these activities, namely human rights and freedoms, their judicial and extra-judicial protection and renewal, the system of entities responsible for protection of human rights and freedoms, its objectives and functions, are specified in the Constitution of Ukraine and Laws of Ukraine laying down the constitutional basis for human rights activities.
It is demonstrated that the human rights activities, being based on constitutional norms and being constitutional ones by contents and forms, combine three main forms of the constitutional and legal activities aiming at protection and renewal of human rights and freedoms: law making, law enforcement, and judicial. The constitutional human rights activities are proposed to be defined as purposeful law making, law enforcement and judicial (justice or jurisdictional) activities performed by public administration and local self-government bodies, their executive officials, as well as by institutes of civil society and business concerned with protection and renewal of human rights and freedoms fixed by the Constitution and other human rights and freedoms.
It is argued that the constitutional human rights activities in Ukraine and abroad have system character, being represented by the system of objects, i. e. a set of constitutional rights and freedoms and their groups, as well as by the system of entities of the constitutional law, authorized to exercise protection and renewal of these rights and freedoms. The system of entities is represented in Ukraine by: 1) individuals (citizens of Ukraine, persons without citizenship, foreigners etc.) who are the bearers of constitutional rights and freedoms, and who dispute their violations; 2) the Ukrainian people, native peoples and national minorities of Ukraine; 3) the Ukrainian State, public administration bodies, their executive officials; 4) territorial communities, local self-government bodies and their executive officials; 5) business sector, namely legal entities of private law – business enterprises; 6) international human right protection organizations, etc.
The study elaborates on the essence, contents, methods and forms of human rights activities of the Ukrainian State and its constitutional bodies: the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Ombudsman, the President of Ukraine, The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, courts and prosecutor’s offices, and the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
It is emphasized that the category “human rights activities” has preserved an essentially theoretical character in the domestic constitutional law. Yet, the proper development of human rights activities in Ukraine requires that the provision pertaining to human rights activities and their support by the State be reformulated by adding the following paragraph to the Article 21 of the Constitution of Ukraine: “The State shall recognize the priority of human rights activities and promote their implementation.
