Human Dignity and Constitutional Governance under Martial Law: National and Global Challenges

The article elaborates on the threats to human dignity in both Ukrainian national and global contexts. It emphasizes the significance of human dignity as the basis for creating a contemporary legal order in Europe, and the current obstacles to its preservation amidst rising international security threats to Euro-Atlantic civilization from authoritarian regimes. The author concludes that the development of an effective system for regulating interstate relations is crucial for protecting democracies, and therefore human dignity as its foundational value. The concept of human dignity, and the justifiability of conscription—particularly in German constitutional doctrine—are examined. The author identifies a chain of systemic links between constitutional values, with dignity as the primary basis, and military duty as an essential component in establishing the constitutional order. The current challenges for constitutional governance in Ukraine during martial law are analyzed. The author argues that martial law actions, pursuing a legitimate aim of strengthening defense capability, still fail to pass the “three-part test” due to a lack of necessity and proportionality. Numerous infringements of the rule of law principle by public authorities—leading to instrumental treatment of individuals and acts of brutality during conscription—are revealed. The author draws attention to the destructive social tendencies of disintegration and disregard for the law resulting from such actions. The writer concludes that, regardless of the circumstances, it is imperative for a humancentered state based on the rule of law to abstain from measures that violate human dignity. Failing to do so delegitimizes the state and strips it of its core values, ultimately transforming it into a repressive mechanism where human dignity is excluded.