ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL MECHANISMS FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS UNDER MARTIAL LAW: IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES AND WAYS TO IMPROVE

Abstract

The article examines administrative and legal mechanisms for protecting children's rights under martial law in Ukraine caused by the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. The focus is on systemic challenges faced by the state in ensuring children's basic rights – to life, security, education, medical care, social protection, and family upbringing. It is noted that despite the existence of a broad regulatory framework, the mechanisms for its implementation in armed conflict conditions remain fragmented, insufficiently coordinated, and limited by personnel, procedural, and technical factors.

Special attention is paid to the problems of evacuating children from combat zones, complications of distance education, limited access to social payments, difficulties in establishing the status of orphans and children deprived of parental care, as well as the legal and humanitarian aspects of illegal displacement of children to temporarily occupied territories. The study characterizes the activities of the main subjects of administrative protection - children's services, social service centers, guardianship authorities, police, and military-civil administrations.

Based on the analysis of national legislation, international legal norms, and practices of protecting children in conflict situations, a number of measures to improve administrative and legal mechanisms are proposed. In particular, the implementation of a special legal regime for child protection during war, the introduction of a new definition of "a child separated from parents due to military conflict," the creation of a national register of affected children, the formation of interagency response groups, expanding the powers of child protection services, and strengthening international cooperation with humanitarian organizations.

The proposed approaches are based on the principles of child-centrism, operational efficiency, interagency coordination, and adaptation to emergency conditions. The implementation of the proposed solutions will contribute to increasing the effectiveness of the system of protecting children's rights in Ukraine under martial law.