To what extent constitutional rights, in particular freedom of expression, can be restricted within a constitutional democracy at war? The Ukrainian experience will be analysed in a dialogue with two distinguished Ukrainian scholars .
Ukraine has been resisting to the Russian full-scale invasion for more than four years, and dealing with a war since 2014. Restrictions to constitutional rights during armed aggressions and (in Ukraine, since 2022) under martial law are usually considered to be legitimate. However, in a constitutional democracy such as Ukraine, they must be proportionate, and applied within the framework of the domestic Constitution, and in compliance with the ECtHR standards.
In this regard, Olena Boryslavska (Professor and Head of the Constitutional Law Department, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine), will analyse the resilience of Ukrainian constitutional law at war from a general perspective. Against this background, Dariia Opryshko (NGO Human Rights Platform , Ukraine; Philipp-Schwartz Initiative Alumna (2022-2025) University of Muenster, Germany), will specifically focus on freedom of expression in Ukraine, also in light of the ECtHR case law.
This activity is funded/organised by the EUI Widening Europe Programme. The EUI Widening Europe Programme, backed by contributions from the European Union and EUI Contracting States, is designed to strengthen internationalisation, competitiveness, and quality in research in Widening countries, and thus foster a more cohesive European Higher Education and Research Area.