A system to evaluate the damage caused by Russia during the war in Ukraine has gained the support of more than 40 countries at the Council of Europe summit, in expectation that Moscow can be coerced to compensate victims and help reconstruct the nation once the conflict is over.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine was the dominant topic during the meeting in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavík, where delegations from Council of Europe member states discussed how the continent’s preeminent human rights organization could support Kyiv.
The most concrete result of the meeting has been endorsed by France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, among other nations; a new office to establish a register of damages that will allow victims of the war to report the harm they have suffered.
“Today’s decision to establish this register is without doubt historic. After that, we should prepare the necessary legal framework for the confiscation of Russian assets and establish a compensation fund.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal
German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz tagged the register as “a significant contribution to international efforts to hold Russia to account for the consequences of its brutal actions.”
Scholz stressed that details of how Russia will pay for the damage to Ukraine are yet to be resolved. “The register of damages is a register – that’s quite a bit, but that’s what it is, and this doesn’t resolve the question of how the damages will be paid for.”
Asked to assess the chances of frozen Russian assets being utilized to pay for damages, Scholz sounded skeptical. He remarked that there were “not many courses of action that are open and are compatible with current law.”
Running Costs To Be Financed By Signatories
According to a Council of Europe document, the record is “intended to constitute the first component of a future international compensation mechanism.” The running costs will be financed by the signatories.
Such a register could be used to distribute reparations from a proposed tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression, another concept backed by the Council of Europe. In his address to the summit on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy echoed his country’s wish for such a court.
“There will be no reliable peace without justice,” Zelenskyy said, speaking to the opening session via video link.
The Council of Europe’s Secretary General, Marija Pejčinović Burić stated that the body intends to support the international effort to establish a judicial organ to prosecute the crime of aggression which is the literal act of invading another country.
The Strasbourg-based Council of Europe seeks to bring legal and humanitarian support instead of military aid. It has been a guardian, with inconsistent success, of human rights, democracy and the rule of law on the continent since its inception in 1949.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President, Vladimir Putin and another official for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. However, the court lacks the ability to prosecute aggression.
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