Protection of the Right to Personal Life in the Practice of the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of Ukraine

The central value of constitutionalism is human rights, the process of their protection is one of the  most important elements of the legitimization of state power. The article examines the practice of the Constitutional  Court, the ECHR on the protection of human rights to private life. The features of the protection of the constitutional  right to privacy are highlighted taking into account the fact that the process of constitutional protection of human  rights is considered both from a formal point of view through the analysis of specific constitutional norms, and in  the context of how real they are, how effective their protection is in everyday legal life. The article draws the following conclusions. The positions of the Constitutional Court also correspond with the  established legal positions of the ECHR regarding the fact that guaranteeing obliges the state not only to proclaim,  declare theoretical or illusory rights and freedom, but also to ensure the practicality and effectiveness of rights, the  possibility of their implementation. Accordingly, the main objectives of the ECHR are to ensure and develop the  ideals and values of a democratic society, to ensure real, practical, effective human rights, respectively, in this con- text of the constitution, the basic laws of European states should first of all express a balanced distribution of powers  between the holders of power and their positive and negative responsibilities to ensure human rights. The ECHR still does not give a clear definition of «private life», deliberately avoiding attempts of this kind, only  identifies certain aspects of the concept and prefers (as a rule) focusing on a specific issue. Similarly, the CCU notes  the impossibility of defining absolutely all types of behavior of an individual in the spheres of personal life, since  personal rights are part of natural human rights, which are not exhaustive. The article proves that, taking into account the Ukrainian constitutional doctrine, the legal positions of the Con- stitutional Court and the ECHR, firstly, it is advisable to interpret the content of constitutional human rights not  through the letter of the law, but through its spirit; consideration of the process of constitutional protection of human  rights in the context of reality, practicality and efficiency. Secondly, such an independent method of protection as  the termination of an action that violates the right is not sufficient to protect the constitutional right to privacy, the  principle of respect for privacy must necessarily include the need for adequate compensation in the event that such  violation (interference) occurs arbitrarily or contrary to the law.