The article deals with international anti-discrimination standards developed in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights through the prism of their substantive evolution and problems of adaptation in Ukraine. It focuses on the transformation of the European Court of Human Rights’ approaches from a formal understanding of equality to a concept of substantive equality, oriented towards equality of opportunities and results and takes into account the actual impact of legal regulation on human rights implementation. The correlation between Article 14 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Protocol No. 12, as well as the methodology for assessing discrimination developed by the Court, in particular the criteria of comparability of situations, legitimate aim, and proportionality of interference, are analyzed.

The key doctrinal elements of the European Court of Human Rights practice, in particular the concepts of suspect grounds, indirect discrimination, and positive obligations of states are considered. Using relevant decisions of the Court as examples, the article highlights approaches to the protection of vulnerable groups, including the Roma community, women, and LGBTQ + persons, and demonstrates the narrowing of the limits of discretion of states in cases involving discrimination on sensitive grounds.

Particular attention is paid to analyzing the state of adaptation of the ECHR’s anti-discrimination standards in Ukraine. Systemic problems, including the fragmentation and inconsistency of legislation, the limited application of the doctrine of indirect discrimination, the formal approach of national courts to the principle of equality, insufficient use of ECHR practice in judicial interpretation, the absence of a specialized body on equality issues, and the low effectiveness of institutional mechanisms to combat discrimination, have been identified.

Key words: anti-discrimination standards; gender equality; discrimination; European Court of Human Rights; international standards; indirect discrimination; human rights; European Court of Human Rights practice; equality.

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