ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS: FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN DOMESTIC AND EUROPEAN PRACTICE

Abstract

The subject of the study is the international, European and constitutional framework for the formation and protection of economic human rights, with particular attention to their development in Ukraine under conditions of post-socialist transformation, war and European integration. The paper focuses on the relationship between human dignity, property protection, entrepreneurial freedom, labour rights, social security, legal certainty and effective judicial protection. Special attention is paid to the role of the European Court of Human Rights in expanding the understanding of economic rights through the interpretation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights. Methodology. The research is based on a combination of historical-legal, comparative-legal, systemic and doctrinal methods. The historical-legal method made it possible to trace the evolution of economic human rights from classical liberal concepts of property and freedom to modern social-state and human dignity approaches. The comparative-legal method was used to analyse international, European and Ukrainian legal sources, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the European Social Charter, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Constitution of Ukraine. The systemic method allowed economic rights to be examined as an interconnected group of guarantees that combine negative obligations of non-interference with positive obligations of the state. The doctrinal method was applied to assess the case law of the European Court of Human Rights concerning property, pensions, social benefits, licences, business interests and legitimate expectations. The aim of the work is to define the legal nature and structure of economic human rights, identify their international, European and constitutional foundations, and determine the specific features of their realization in Ukraine under conditions of institutional transformation, martial law and European integration. The results of the study show that economic human rights are not a secondary or purely social group of rights, but an essential component of human dignity and real individual freedom. Their content includes the right to property, entrepreneurial freedom, the right to work, fair remuneration, social protection and an adequate standard of living. At the international level, these rights were formed through universal human rights instruments that transformed economic guarantees from political declarations into legally significant obligations of the state. At the European level, their protection is ensured through the European Social Charter and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The Court’s autonomous interpretation of «possessions» has extended protection to a wide range of legally recognized economic interests, including pensions, welfare benefits, licences, corporate interests and legitimate expectations. For Ukraine, the study demonstrates that constitutional recognition of economic rights is only the starting point. Their real value depends on effective public administration, fair administrative procedures, judicial independence, enforcement of court decisions, fiscal stability, compensation mechanisms for war-related destruction and harmonization with European standards. Conclusion. Economic human rights should be understood as a legal foundation of human dignity, social justice and democratic statehood. In Ukraine, their importance has increased significantly due to full-scale war, destruction of property, economic instability, social vulnerability and the need for post-war recovery. Martial law may justify temporary restrictions of certain economic freedoms, but it does not eliminate the legal nature of economic rights. State interference must remain lawful, necessary, proportionate, temporary and subject to effective control. Ukraine’s future development in this sphere depends on strengthening institutional guarantees, ensuring enforceability of judicial decisions, protecting property and entrepreneurial activity, improving compensation mechanisms, and aligning domestic legal regulation with European rule-of-law standards. Economic rights are therefore not merely social promises, but a practical measure of the maturity of a democratic and law-governed state.