OSCE supports of legal professionals’ discussions on adapting Ukraine’s criminal justice to war-time needs and challenges

While international justice tools to deal with war-related crimes are high on the agenda, national institutions can and should pursue investigation and prosecution of those who commit them, as synergy of domestic and international efforts is an important precondition for justice to effectively respond to violations of human rights in the course of ongoing war. The needs of adapting national practices and legislation in criminal justice were in focus of IX Lviv Criminal Justice Forum, organized by the OSCE Secretariat Extra-Budgetary Support Programme for Ukraine (SPU) together with State Bureau of Investigations and Lviv University of Internal Affairs on 26-27 October 2023.

More than 60 participants – judges, prosecutors, investigators, scholars and civil society experts participated in the Forum’s discussions in-person and online. The event was streamed live with recording available at the SPU’s YouTube Channel (Day 1 and Day 2).

While Ukraine’s current Criminal Code contains relevant provisions enabling prosecution of war-related crimes, planned submission of the new version of the Code for Parliament’s review provides an opportunity to strengthen the defence of human rights in these conditions, as was noted in the discussions. Ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court will also be helpful, taking into account that it will strengthen the toolkit for prosecution of gender-based violence. 

“Lviv Criminal Justice Forum is a valuable platform for legal professionals to discuss and find gaps in laws, irregularities of practice, but most importantly, ways to improve the justice system. People  want to get justice, especially in times of war. But efficient execution of justice can be ensured by fair and independent judges and through an unbiased investigation and good laws – all the system combined. It is of great value that in the ongoing war the OSCE finds it possible to support work of a platform, where lawyers can review these issues from a systemic perspective,” said Dmytro Lukyanov, Deputy Head of High Council of Justice of Ukraine.

“Of course, nowadays, we all want peace, but for its sustainability the peace should be just. And just peace is not possible without identifying and prosecuting those who committed crimes in the course of ongoing war. That is why we consider it important to support discussions that will help the justice system that will have sufficient capacity and effective tools to provide an adequate response,” said Marcel Peŝko, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairmanship – Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine at the opening of the event.  

Participants also exchanged ideas on how to identify and indict those responsible for strikes on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, but also debated legal tools available for its protection. Notably, they stressed that – for example – in review of cases when people are accused of disclosing their location by posting photos online, both investigators and judges should take into account that such disclosure may refer to information already available to general public. The Forum’s experts also provided summary of discussions, available online at Media Centre Ukraine YouTube channel (Day 1 and Day2).