Problems of provision of the citizens’ constitutional right to sufficient standard of living

Abstract

In accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine of 1996, the state ensures social orientation of the economy (Part 4, Article 13). This, in its turn, is the basis for the implementation of numerous social rights of citizens, in particular to (1) wages, not lower than that established by law (Article 43), (2) social protection (Article 46), and (3) sufficient standard of living for themselves and their families (Article 48). These norms of the Basic Law are implemented by the state social standards and state social guarantees provided for by the current legislation. However, the current national legislation defining the legal framework for the formation and application of the state social standards and norms aimed at implementing the basic social guarantees enshrined in the Constitution and the laws of Ukraine does not contain a clear and unambiguous answer to the questions of what is a sufficient standard of living, what is the content of the relevant right, and how it is implemented.

The analysis of international documents has shown that to designate actually the same phenomenon different terms are used: “sufficient standard of living”; “decent living standard”; “the standard of living necessary for the maintenance of health and well-being”; “adequate social protection”.

It is clear that a sufficient standard of living is not a stated quantity, since it varies depending on socio-economic and other factors. The task of the state is to create the proper conditions for a person so that he/she can by one’s own work provide a decent material base for oneself and for the family. The position is advocated that it is more correct to speak not about sufficient but about decent standard of living, since in the first case we talk about a level that actually corresponds to the minimum human needs (that is, equal to or higher than the human poverty line), the importance of the second is that it is the level that goes out from the fact that a person is the highest social value. It is the dignity that allows a person to feel self-respect and realize one’s own social value. This position should be fixed in Article 48 of the Constitution of Ukraine.