Legal aspects of temporary protection for Ukrainians in the member states of the European Union

Abstract

In the article two different international protection mechanisms for persons who are forced to leave their homes for the sake of personal safety and the safety of their children (refugee status and temporary protection) which are currently provided for in European law are examined and compared. The main international document that regulates the issue of refugees is the UN Convention on the Status of Refugees of 1951. The issue of temporary protection is regulated by the EU Council Directive № 2001/55/EC of 07/20/2001, which was activated for the first time in history by the EU Council Decision № 2022/382 of 03/04/2022 to protect persons fleeing Ukraine due to a large-scale invasion by Russian armed forces began on 24 February 2022. The grounds for obtaining refugee status are individual and internal in nature (reasonable fears of a person becoming a victim of persecution), and therefore a long and complex administrative procedure for obtaining it. The grounds for obtaining temporary protection have a collective and obvious external nature (a mass influx of forcibly displaced persons in connection with a real threat), and, accordingly, the maximally simplified and fast (immediate) procedure confirming that the person is covered temporary protection.