HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE ACTIVITIES OF THE NATIONAL POLICE OF UKRAINE: ANALYSIS OF THE OFFICIAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

The official discourse of the National Police of Ukraine (NPU) regarding the principle of human rights in police activities is based on a set of normative documents, in particular the Constitution of Ukraine (Article 29, Part 3 and Part 4), the Law of Ukraine «On the National Police» (Article 6 and 7, Chapter II), Rules of ethical behavior of police officers (Chapter II and III). They note that the observance of human rights and freedoms and the rule of law are the basic principles of police work. In 2016, the Department of Human Rights Compliance of the NPU was created, which was «rebooted» in 2020 and is currently supposed to implement state policy in the areas of human rights compliance during the provision of police services and is an authorized unit on issues of gender equality. The article examines the official discourse of the National Police of Ukraine regarding the observance of human rights in the work of the police through the content analysis of the annual reports of the Head of the National Police of Ukraine, the study of information on the NPU website under the heading «Respecting Human Rights», information on the activities of the Human Rights Office. With the help of content analysis, it was established that in the reports of the Head of the NPU, attention is focused on the principle of observing human rights, the rights of children, detainees (in the context of the purpose and tasks of Custody Records); however, the Reports do not contain information about the Office of Human Rights Compliance. Analysis of the specialized report «The main achievements of the National Police of Ukraine within the framework of the implementation of the strategic directions of the National Strategy in the field of human rights» for 2021.shows that there are significant indicators of the police within the framework of the implementation of the strategic directions of the National Strategy in the field of human rights, which demonstrates the awareness of the principle of observing human rights as fundamental in the activities of the police and the gradual steps of its implementation. The Administration’s page on the NPU website is not very informative regarding the content and results of its activities. It is concluded that the regulatory documents set sufficiently clear standards for the implementation of the principle of respect for human rights, but this topic is presented in a limited way in the official sources created by the police.