Problems and Prospects for Ensuring Digital Human Rights in terms of Ukraine’s European Integration202

Abstract

In the early 21st century, digitalization has reached an impressive scale: we have witnessed how information and communication technologies have permeated almost all spheres of social life. Today, it is impossible to imagine processes or operations that have not undergone changes in the context of digitalization. Many traditional rights have acquired new meaning, such as the right to freedom of expression, the right to seek, collect, and store information, the right to privacy, education, work, etc. In addition, we observe the emergence of a specific group of fourth-generation rights — digital rights, which are essentially the result of human activity in cyber-physical space. This article examines the current state of ensuring and protecting digital human rights within the European human rights system, which remains one of the most progressive in the world. Through the jurisprudence of the ECHR and the Court of Justice of the European Union, Europe demonstrates a clear legal response to contemporary challenges related to the emergence of new categories of human rights and the reimagining of traditional ones. A significant achievement of the EU has been the formation of an anthropocentric model for regulating the digital environment, which prioritizes personal safety, the fight against discrimination, and privacy protection. For Ukraine, which holds the status of a candidate for EU membership, the harmonization of national legislation with European standards is one of the primary tasks. The article analyzes key challenges on this path, including the obsolescence of the domestic legal framework regarding personal data protection, the lack of an effective independent supervisory body, and the challenges posed by the need to balance national security under martial law with the observance of citizens' digital freedoms. The prospects for implementing the provisions of the GDPR and the EU AI Act in Ukraine are outlined.