Yana Litins'ka

I am associate professor and senior lecturer in public law. My current research project concerns the preparedness for future health crises, particularly through infectious disease control measures. I am focusing on the legal regulation of vaccinations, the permissibility of various restrictions on the liberty to move, privacy for the protection of public health, and how these restrictions affect vulnerable groups of the population.

I joined Lund University in 2020 as a postdoctoral fellow in migration law. My postdoctoral research project concerned the rights of migrants, specifically asylum-seekers, to access healthcare services under Swedish and international (including regional) human rights law.

Before joining the Faculty of Law, Lund University, I studied in depth the validity of consent to – or a refusal of – a medical treatment and the rights of persons with disabilities to decide on their healthcare. I have also researched the permissibility of compulsion in healthcare, for instance, within mental health care, treatment and diagnostics of infectious diseases and general somatic care. I have also analysed the positive and negative obligations arising from the right to life, liberty, privacy, legal capacity on an equal basis with others, freedom from torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, discrimination, and the right to health in the United Nations and the Council of Europe international treaties. In addition, I have been investigating the issue of administrative supervision over the quality and accessibility of healthcare services.

My research interests span various areas of public law defined broadly, e.g. health law, elder law, and disability law. My research deals with human rights on the international level and their expression through national law. I believe that administrative law is indispensable for the realisation of constitutional and human rights law, and vice versa. Furthermore, I take a special interest in comparative law and believe that an in-depth comparison allows not only for a deeper analysis but also for experiential learning preventing future mistakes. I am interested in using interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to analyse the problem at hand, and understanding how law translates and uses knowledge from natural sciences.

I have taught in all areas of public law defined broadly. These include international human rights law, constitutional, general and special administrative law (such as police law, migration law, social law, and medical law). I have been engaged in teaching legal students at the undergraduate and advanced levels, as well as various groups of non-lawyers, including future social workers, medical doctors, nurses, speech therapists, and physiotherapists.

At the Department of Law, Lund University, I primarily teach social law in term course 4, the advanced course Medical Law, and the internet-based course Fundamentals of Medical Law. I supervise and examine students' theses in Public and Public International Law.

I collaborate with national authorities and NGOs. I have on several occasions presented my research to the wider public, for instance, at Human Rights Days. I have commented upon legal matters in newspapers. In 2020 I started collaborating with the Raoul Wallenberg Institute to support the development of capacity of researchers. In 2020 I became a national supervisor for ELSA Nordic Legal Research Group in Health Law.