PROTECTION OF THE CIVILIAN POPULATION AS A FUNCTION OF MILITARY-CIVIL ADMINISTRATIONS

The author of the article analyzed the current legislation of Ukraine in terms of the mechanisms currently enshrined in it for the protection of civilians during the armed conflict in Ukraine. The author examined the tasks and functions of military-civilian administrations in terms of, inter alia, protection of the population in the territories of hostilities and persons who have been forcibly displaced from such administrative-territorial units. Taking into account a wide range of powers, status and appointment of civil-military administrations in general, positive trends were noted in the direction of solving problematic issues of local governance in the areas of active hostilities in general and, in particular, issues of protection of civilians (both the population of the temporarily occupied territories and the population in the territories of hostilities, persons who have been forcibly displaced to other administrative-territorial unit, citizens of Ukraine, stateless persons or citizens of other states). Nevertheless, the system of protection of civilians in armed conflict in Ukraine has not yet been fully formed and requires significant improvements to bring Ukrainian legislation into strict compliance with the requirements of the Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, this is possible by implementing the best and most effective global practices and the experience of the world's leading countries. The article defines that the protection of civilians is a significant part of the tasks and functions of civil-military administrations, which, with the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, were also vested with the authority to ensure the implementation of state guarantees for the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms under martial law, emergency or state of emergency, as defined by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. Solving the problem of a clear (not open to different interpretations) regulatory regulation of the protection of civilians in the armed conflict in Ukraine (including through the tasks and functions of the Civil-Military Administration) will definitely contribute to ensuring the realization of fundamental human and civil rights and freedoms, as well as strengthening the authority of local authorities, the inviolability of state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Given the current lack of formation a system for the protection of civilians in the context of the armed conflict in Ukraine, the article proposes that further regulatory regulation of the issue of protection of civilians and its practical implementation should be carried out with due regard for the best international practices and the experience of the world's leading countries.