A coalition of Human Rights Organizations held a meeting on legislative changes for war victims

On 18 February 2025, the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea hosted a meeting between the Permanent Representative Olha Kuryshko and the representatives of the Coalition of Organisations for the Protection of the Rights of Victims of the Russian Armed Aggression against Ukraine. The discussion was also attended by the Member of the Ukrainian Parliament Tamila Tasheva and experts.

Olha Kuryshko and Tamila Tasheva. Photo: Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea

The Human Rights Centre ZMINA was represented at the event by its Advocacy Director, Alena Lunova.

The main topic of the meeting was the presentation of a roadmap of draft laws developed by human rights defenders aimed at protecting the rights of war victims. The participants discussed the need to update legislation, in particular in the area of damage assessment and compensation, as well as the adaptation of legal mechanisms to the real challenges faced by people living in the temporarily occupied territories.

Representatives of a coalition of organisations dealing with the protection of the rights of victims of armed aggression briefly outlined key trends in the legislative regulation of issues related to overcoming the consequences of war. In particular, an important step should be an assessment of the impact of legal acts on Ukrainian citizens who remain in the TOT of Ukraine.

Olha Kuryshko noted that an effective system of damage accounting should be developed now, even if a full assessment of losses will only be possible after the regaining of control over the occupied territories.

The meeting also addressed the issues of amendments to the legislation on support for internally displaced persons, registration of civil status acts that took place in the temporarily occupied territory, and the development of public administration bodies in the liberated territories.

Participants emphasised the importance of considering the conditions of the ongoing occupation when developing legislative initiatives and continued to work on mechanisms to support war victims.

In early February of this year, the Coalition’s human rights defenders presented an analytical note: “What are the possible approaches regarding documents issued under the occupation?“, which outlined the list of documents issued by the occupation authorities that can be considered by the state authorities of Ukraine in a certain order. The document is aimed at minimising the negative consequences of the occupation for Ukrainians who continue to reside in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT).

In January 2025, the Coalition presented a document with 13 priority steps to help the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada maintain ties with Ukrainians under occupation and support war-affected citizens.

This material was published with the support of UK International Development from the UK Government; the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the official position of the UK Government.