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AKULENKO Viktor Ivanovych is a leading researcher at the Department of International Law and Law of the European Union, Doctor of Law, Professor.
In 1957, he graduated from the Law Faculty of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. From 1962 to 1967 he worked as a geography teacher and tutor at Komariv boarding school (Chernihiv region). In 1968, he was elected a junior researcher at the Institute's Department of Theory and History. However, in 1972, V.I. Akulenko's successfully developing scientific activity was interrupted by his dismissal from the Institute for political reasons invented by the then special services (the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine reversed this decision in 1994).
Forced to leave the Institute, he worked as a senior consultant to the Republican Board of the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture (UTOPIK) from 1972 to 1979. Later, until 1987, due to health deterioration, I was engaged in creative work, in particular, I worked as a freelance correspondent for the information and methodological bulletin «Sights of Ukraine».In 1987, he published the scientific work «Humanism and Barbarism. On the Salvation of Cultural Values during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945», dedicated to the mass destruction and plundering of Ukrainian cultural values by fascist Germany during World War II.This publication attracted the attention of the prominent Ukrainian poet and academician of the Ukrainian SSR B. Oliynyk, who invited V. Akulenko to work as a senior legal adviser at the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, where he worked from 1987 to 1990. In 1990-1992 he was a lawyer for the magazine "Pam’yatky Ukrainy" and the newspaper "Starozhytnosti", and in 1993 he held the position of senior research fellow at the Center for Monument Studies of the NAS of Ukraine and Utopik.
In 1992, he prepared a candidate's thesis on the topic: «Problems of the Formation and Development of Legislation on the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Ukraine (1917-1991)», which he submitted for consideration at the V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the NAS of Ukraine.In the course of its defense, the specialized academic council recognized that the applicant had explored a new direction in legal science and deserved to be awarded the degree of Doctor of Law (the Regulations of the Higher Attestation Commission of Ukraine allowed it at that time), and the same year, at the second review of the dissertation, awarded him this degree. In 1993, he returned to work at the Institute, and since then he has been a leading researcher at the Department of International Law and Comparative Law. Since 1998, he has also worked as a professor at the Department of Theory and History of State and Law at the National Pedagogical University named after M.P. Dragomanov. In 2004, he was awarded the title of professor.
He was also a consultant to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Culture and Spirituality and a consultant to People's Deputy D.V. Chobit, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, and a member of the Main Board of Utopic. Today, he is a member of the Presidium of the Presidential Council of the Ukrainian Association of International Law, as well as a member of the editorial boards of a number of legal and cultural periodicals (for example,«Proceedings of the Center for Monument Studies», «Monuments of Ukraine: National Culture»). With his direct participation, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine developed and adopted: The Law of Ukraine «On Museums and Museum Affairs» (1995), The Law of Ukraine «On the Export, Import and Return of Cultural Values» (1999), Law of Ukraine «On the Protection of Cultural Heritage» (2000), Law of Ukraine «On the Protection of Archaeological Heritage» (2004).
He is a member of specialized academic councils for the defense of theses for the degree of Doctor of Law at the V.M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the NAS of Ukraine and the Institute of International Relations of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Under his leadership, a number of candidates of law have been trained who successfully conduct research on this topic.
As a member of the Ukrainian-German, Ukrainian-Polish, Ukrainian-Hungarian and Ukrainian-Russian commissions on the return and restitution of cultural values, created in accordance with international agreements between Ukraine and these countries, he participated in negotiations on the above issues with: Germany (1996, Berlin; 1997 and 2001, Kyiv; 2004, Simferopol); Poland (1996 and 1999, Warsaw; 1997, Lviv and 2001, Kyiv); Hungary (1997, Uzhhorod and 2001, Kyiv); and Russia (1997, Kyiv). On behalf of the National Commission on the Return of Cultural Values to Ukraine under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, he developed the “Conceptual Framework and General Principles of International Cooperation of Ukraine in the Field of Restitution of Cultural Values”, which were successfully used by Ukrainian delegations in the process of negotiations.
His scientific interests include the international legal protection of cultural values.
His achievements include over 250 scientific papers. He was the first in domestic legal science to initiate research into a wide range of problems related to the legal protection of the historical and cultural heritage of Ukraine. Thanks to his efforts, the Department of International Law and Comparative Law of the Institute formed a concept for the formation and development of international law on the protection of cultural values as a separate branch of international law.
The scientist is also the first in Ukraine to examine, from the standpoint of international law, the problem of returning cultural values lost during the First and Second World Wars, as well as the return of such values to their countries of origin after the collapse of the USSR, while substantiating the conceptual international legal position of Ukraine in the negotiation process with Poland, Germany, Hungary, and Russia.
Known to the Ukrainian public also as a publicist, a member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, he is the author of many essays and pamphlets on socio-political and cultural topics. In particular, he prepared and published the publicistic book «At the Crossroads of Law and Conscience». K., 2005, and later the documentary-fiction « Echoes of Memory: Back to the Future. Kyiv, 2008, documentary-fiction "Echoes of Memory: Back to the Future. Kyiv, 2008, and later –
In 2017, together with M.O. Teplyuk and M.I. Shumylo, he received the Mykola Vasylenko Prize of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine for the series of works, "Ensuring the Effective Implementation of Ukrainian Legislation: Problems of Theory and Practice."
Selected Scientific Publications:
- Legislation on monuments of history and culture: collection of normative acts / edited by O. N. Yakimenko, compiled by M. O. Golodny, V. I. Akulenko and others. Kyiv: Ukrpolitvydav, 1970. 464 p.
- Akulenko V. Protection of cultural monuments in Ukraine (1917-1990). Kyiv, 1991. 274 p.
- Collection «Ukraine in International Legal Relations. Vol. 2. Legal Protection of Cultural Values» // ed. Yu. S. Shemshuchenko, V. I. Akulenko; Compiled by V. I. Akulenko, V. N. Denisov, V. V. Maksimov. K.: Yurinkom Inter, 1997. 863 p.
- Akulenko V. A Bill which Faces the Past// Spoils of War. Bremen, August 1997. No. 4. P. 19—20.
- Akulenko V. I. Cultural heritage of humanity: preservation and use: a textbook. Lviv, 2002. 160 p. (co-authored);
- Akulenko V. I. Implementation of international legal norms into the domestic law of Ukraine in the field of cultural heritage protection // Interaction of international law with domestic law of Ukraine / Ed. V.N. Denisov, 2006. P. 458—507;
- Akulenko V. I. International Law on Protection of Cultural Property (co-authored) // Ukrainian Yearbook of International Law. 2010.
- Akulenko V. International Law on Protection of Cultural Property — a New Branch of the Public International Law (ESSEY)// Juridical Journal. 2016. No. 169. S. 56-58.
- Akulenko V. I. International Law on the Protection of Cultural Properties and Its Implementation in the Domestic Law of Ukraine: Monograph. K., «Yustinian», 2013. 616 p.
- Akulenko V. Correlation of the International and National Institutional and Legal Regulations of Applying Some Aspects of Technical Barriers in Practices of Ukraine and the European Union. European Studies. The Review of European Law, Economics and Politics. Volume 7 (co-authored).
- Akulenko V.I. «Scientific and journalistic sketches for the portrait of Professor Volodymyr Denisov in an encyclopedic interior. To the 70th anniversary of the V.M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the NAS of Ukraine (1949-2019)». Odesa. Phoenix. 2020. 74 p.
- Akulenko V.I. International law on the protection of cultural values and its implementation in the domestic law of Ukraine: Monograph. 2nd ed., corrected and supplemented. Kyiv: Norma prava, 2023. 656 p.