Relevant Issues of Property Rights Protection in Ukraine

Abstract

The issue of protecting property rights today is one of the most important, and depends both on the state and in on the owners of these rights. Despite the fact that Ukraine strives to join the European Union, its legal system is still far from international standards. For example, if the owner of property does not possess at least initial knowledge in the field of protecting his rights, then his property may be at risk, problems may emerge not only from authorities, but also from other owners, entrepreneurs or legal entities. Another issue that should be noted is intellectual property, the concept and regulation of which is necessary for the successful development of the state and its investment attractiveness. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the status of the issue of property rights protection in Ukraine and create a development strategy that can be an important component of a national security strategy. In the paper, along with questions of legislative support of citizens` property rights, considered legislative methods of increasing the potential of enterprises and the level of social protection of the population. Based on the experience of protecting property rights in the European Union, it is shown that the basis for legal protection should be economic feasibility, and not the political situation of the executive and legislative branches. As a result, measures were developed with the help of which the legislative framework and human rights activities should be improved to the level of the EU countries, where special attention is paid to human rights, and, therefore, the property.

Ukraine's tenurial tangle: Housing, land and property restitution in the Russian war

“…Although recent laws regarding HLP rights in Ukraine can be well written and well intentioned, there have been significant problems in their implementation, with law enforcement often violating the property rights they are supposed to protect, at times depriving owners of their HLP (Shcherbatyuk, 2014). Dolgopolova et al (2020) assess that the Ukrainian state does not effectively protect property rights, with significant weakness in protections against unlawful takeover. Prior to the war, Ukraine in 2021 occupied 105th place out of 129 countries in the International Property Rights Index, a measure of the rights of citizens to posses and protect private property (PRA, 2022).…”

“…Prior to the war, Ukraine in 2021 occupied 105th place out of 129 countries in the International Property Rights Index, a measure of the rights of citizens to posses and protect private property (PRA, 2022). And several sources note significant problems with tenure insecurity prior to the war (Dolgopolova et al, 2020; Kravtsov, 2019; LandLinks, 2017; Shcherbatyuk, 2014). Meanwhile, a study by the Norwegian Refugee Council revealed a significant lack of awareness of HLP rights, policies, and laws among both officials and IDPs (NRC, 2016a).…”

“…The implementation of HLP court decisions is regarded as ineffective, uncertain, and ambiguous resulting in a low level of public trust. In some cases, trust in the courts to adequately handle HLP rights problems was so low that property owners appealed to the European Court of Human Rights which decided, in one important case, that the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms had been violated (Dolgopolova et al, 2020; Kravtsov, 2019). This combination of large numbers of unresolved cases, dysfunction and distrust, is what was in‐place when the war started and 14 million people became displaced.…”

“…There is a significant administrative aspect to Ukraine's tenurial tangle, comprising HLP registration, documentation, and cadastres. Flaws in the registration process (Dolgopolova et al, 2020; Kravtsov, 2019) have resulted in systemic manipulation and fraud, particularly involving dishonest notaries (Shcherbatyuk, 2014). Nizalov et al (2022) describe how the overall state registration system for HLP was only 40 percent complete at the onset of the war (lower in the eastern occupied areas), and that the majority of property rights obtained prior to 2013 are not included.…”