Human Rights Law Discussion Group – Who Deserves Protection? Military Obligations and Human Rights of Persons Displaced from Ukraine

Dr. iur. Maja Łysienia (Association for Legal Intervention)

The seminar starts at 10.15, respecting the academic quarter, and involves 20-30 minutes of presentation, followed by approx. 30 minutes of discussion.
 

For people outside the Faculty of Law at Lund University who wish to participate either on site or digitally please register your participation by sending an e-mail to daria [dot] davitti [at] jur [dot] lu [dot] se.
Faculty members, graduate students and all interested in interdisciplinary research involving law are most welcome!
 

Convenors: Chris Cowan, Amanda Kron, Björg Valgeirsdóttir, Pablo Pastor Vidal.
 

Senior Members: Daria Davitti, Zvezda Vankova and Sara Arapiles
The Human Rights Law Discussion Group is kindly funded by the Centre for European Studies at Lund University, in collaboration with the ERC Starting Grant project “Refugee Finance: Histories, Frameworks, Practices (REF-FIN)” and the VR project “Refugee protection or cherry picking? Assessing new admission policies for refugees in Europe” (ARISE).

Abstract:
At the end of July 2026, temporary protection – granted since March 2022 to persons displaced from Ukraine – was extended for one more year but only for “those who satisfy their military obligations in Ukraine”. At the same time, domestic judicial and administrative bodies have been rejecting asylum claims of Ukrainian men fearing mobilisation and penalties for refusing to participate in the war. Against this background, this contribution seeks to determine whether draft evaders and deserters from Ukraine shall be granted protection, temporary and/or international, and in what circumstances would it be required based on international and EU law. The analysis of the caselaw of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights and national courts, as well as the UNHCR’s guidelines, shows that only exceptionally persons fearing conscription are granted refugee status and subsidiary protection. Validity of their reasons to object being drafted and fighting, conditions of military and alternative service, as well as consequences of the objection, are usually restrictively scrutinized by asylum authorities. Seeing the exceptionality of protection in this context, the prospects for strategic litigation in cases concerning Ukrainian nationals objecting their military obligations seem meagre. However, the case of Ukrainian prospective soldiers also prompts us to reconsider whether protecting life and limb should be in any case so exceptional. Speaker’s bio
 

Dr. iur. Maja Łysienia is a legal professional passionate about human rights and asylum/migration law. She is a President of the Board of the Swiss Network of young Migration Scholars (SNyMS), a Board Member of the Swiss Association of Migration and Mobility Studies (SAMMS), an expert on international and EU law within the AsyLex Advisory Council, and a national expert for the Asylum Information Database (AIDA) run by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles. She just completed her postdoctoral research at the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO Valais-Wallis) and University of Lausanne (nccr-on the move) where she investigated the crisis impact on migration laws and policies. Currently, she works at the Association for Legal Intervention, focusing on strategic litigation and advocacy in area of migration and asylum.