GENESIS AND EVOLUTION OF THE CATEGORY «PLACES OF DEPRIVATION OF LIBERTY» IN THE JURISDICTIONAL PRACTICE AND LEGAL DOCTRINE OF UKRAINE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/galician_studies/law-2025-11-15Keywords:
places of detention, deprivation of liberty, administrative coercion, National Preventive Mechanism, Ombudsman, torture, ECtHR case law, closed institutions, public administration, human rights protectionAbstract
The relevance of this article stems from the fact that the term «places of unfreedom» is a relatively new legal construct in Ukrainian jurisdictional practice; it has only recently come into active use within administrative and criminal proceedings, as well as in the sphere of public administration. However, in recent years, the term’s scope of application has expanded significantly: it is increasingly employed in media discourse, regulatory acts, legal scholarship, and professional human rights literature. Due to its versatility, the category of «places of unfreedom» is poised to be recognized as a fundamental concept for describing and conducting human rights protection and oversight activities regarding specialized institutions where individuals are held under the control of state bodies pursuant to measures of administrative, criminal, or medical-social coercion. The article aims to provide a comprehensive scholarly analysis of the genesis, legal codification, and administrative-legal essence of the category «places of unfreedom» within Ukrainian jurisdictional practice, while also outlining the stages of its conceptualization and defining its role as a tool for the interagency unification of human rights oversight. The article presents a comprehensive theoretical and administrativelegal analysis of the genesis, emergence, and institutionalization of the concept of «places of unfreedom» in Ukrainian jurisdictional practice and legal doctrine. It traces the transformation of this category from an interdisciplinary and human rights term into a universal administrative-legal instrument for the interagency unification and comprehensive oversight of closed institutions. Three key stages in the evolution of this concept are examined: the doctrinal stage (development of the theory of «total institutions» and the autonomous interpretation of deprivation of liberty in the case law of the ECtHR), the international normative stage (ratification of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture), and the institutional-legal stage (establishment of the National Preventive Mechanism within the Ukrainian Ombudsman system). The study analyzes Ukraine’s current legislative framework, strategic-level acts, the rule-making activities of the Cabinet of Ministers, and subordinate regulations issued by law enforcement agencies regarding the category of «places of unfreedom». It also highlights the scholarly legacy of the classical school of Ukrainian administrative law in laying the theoretical groundwork for shifting from a narrow criminal-procedural paradigm of «places of deprivation of liberty» to a broad administrative-legal concept of human rights protection in closed institutions.
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