The Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine Iryna Mudra took part at the high-level side event to the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, organized by the Global Survivors Fund (GSF) “Reparations are affordable: Innovative solutions to finance reparations owed to survivors of conflict-related sexual violence” in New York. At the event activists, experts, and officials discussed both traditional and innovative methods of financing that could offer abundant and sustainable funding for survivors. Now, the Ukrainian government is forced to seek ways to compensate for damages while russia continues its full-scale war against Ukraine. 

“We are grateful to everyone who supports us, who helps Ukrainians fight for their freedom. To all those who do not allow the crimes and horrors taking place in Ukraine to be silenced”, Iryna Mudra said. She emphasized that russia initiated unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine in flagrant violation of the UN Charter’s prohibition of the use of force against Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. The Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine also reiterated that russia's armed aggression is causing massive destruction of civilian property and damage to critical infrastructure every day.

“We all saw the results of the horrors that were discovered after the liberation of the territories that were occupied by russia for months”, Iryna Mudra said. “The names of the cities like Bucha and Irpin, Mariupol, Izuim, Kherson became the symbols of inhuman cruelty of russian occupational forces. Such atrocities as kidnapping of children, murdering, raping, torturing occurred in any place occupied by russia”, the Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine emphasized. 

“Today, I stand before you on behalf of the victims and survivors of this horrific war and call for russia’s accountability for all its crimes”, Iryna Mudra said. 

Special attention was paid to russia’s obligation to compensate all the economic losses of private and public legal entities, to pay for all the destruction of private and state property. Iryna Mudra pointed out that in this regard Ukraine pursues a comprehensive system of accountability for russia. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine created unprecedented momentum to explore novel and alternative ways to finance reparation through the repurposing of perpetrators’ assets.

A year ago, Ukraine has proposed the concept of the comprehensive compensation mechanism. This mechanism will be based on an international treaty and will consist of three components:

1)The International Register of Damage to record claims and evidence of damage, loss or injury caused by war.

2)The International Claims Commission that will adjudicate those claims and determine the size of compensation due in each case.

3)The International Compensation Fund that will accumulate money from which these compensation payments will be paid.

Iryna Mudra also informed that the process of creation of the Register of Damage was already launched.

On 12 May 2023 the International Register of Damage has been created under the auspices of the Council of Europe according to the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the Register of damage caused by the aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine. In future, it will serve as a record, in documentary form, of evidence and claims information on damage, loss or injury, caused after 24 February 2022, in the territory of Ukraine by the russian federation’s internationally wrongful acts in or against Ukraine.

The International Register is called upon to:

-receive and process information on claims of damage and evidence;

-categorize, classify and organize such claims;

-assess and determine the eligibility of claims for inclusion in the Register and record the eligible claims for the purposes of their future examination and adjudication. 

“Establishment of the International Register of Damage is not the ultimate goal in attaining the justice for Ukraine and its people”, Iryna Mudra added. As mentioned before, the main sources for financing the Compensation Fund will be the blocked and frozen assets of the russian federation and russian sanctioned individuals.

“It is also vital to develop and adopt the necessary national pieces of legislation on the confiscation of the sovereign assets of russia and persons subject to sanctions in order to provide their further transfer”, Iryna Mudra said.

The Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine conveyed the belief that the international community should take action to hold russian federation accountable for atrocities and destruction, without showing leniency. 

“The establishment of the International Compensation Mechanism is a test of the entire international community. It will allow us to establish international justice according to democratic values rooted in the rule of law and the safeguarding of human rights, all of which are fundamental principles of international law”, Iryna Mudra summarized.