Confronting human rights violations in Ukraine: some legal and practical challenges

From the annexation of territory to the use of volunteer battalions and from large-scale detentions to the deployment of hybrid warfare methods, the Ukrainian conflict is a melting pot of contemporary issues relating to modern war. Along with being representative of a multifaceted conflict, these dynamics make the fulfillment of human rights obligations inherently more challenging. This chapter considers a series of the most pressing legal and practical difficulties to emerge from the crisis in this respect. For legal challenges, it analyzes the obstacles in identifying where human rights obligations apply, to whom and what their content may be. In respect of practical challenges, it highlights difficulties in monitoring human rights violations during the course of ongoing hostilities in contested territories. It concludes with a reflection on how the legacy of the conflict is likely to be shaped by the responses international bodies provide to these challenges.