Documenting war crimes and supporting victims: human rights defenders meet with British official Alex Davies-Jones

Representatives of Ukrainian civil society organisations met in Kyiv with Alex Davies-Jones, the UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls. Tetiana Pechonchyk, Head of the Board of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA, took part in the meeting.

Pictured from left to right: Oksana Pokalchuk (Truth Hounds), Natalka Humeniuk (Public Interest Journalism Lab), Liubov Smachylo (The Media Initiative for Human Rights), Oleksandra Matviichuk (Centre for Civil Liberties), Alex Davies-Jones, UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls, Tetiana Pechonchyk (ZMINA), Martin Harris, British Ambassador to Ukraine, and Mykola Sioma (Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation).

Representatives of the Centre for Civil Liberties, the Media Initiative for Human Rights, Truth Hounds, the Public Interest Journalism Lab and the Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation also took part in the meeting.

During the discussion, participants raised the issue of the thousands of Ukrainians who remain in Russian captivity, including unlawfully imprisoned citizen journalist Iryna Danylovych. They also discussed Russian drone attacks against civilians, the need to support Ukrainian state authorities and civil society in documenting and investigating international crimes, and the importance of establishing a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

Particular attention was also paid to increasing UK sanctions pressure on Russia and to the challenges that emerging warfare technologies pose to international law.

This was Alex Davies-Jones’s first visit to Ukraine. During the trip, the British official visited Bucha and attended the conference, “United for Justice. Accountability for Crimes Against Civilians”, in order to witness firsthand the consequences of the Russian occupation and the crimes committed by Russia against Ukrainians.

Photo: Alex Davies-Jones at the United for Justice conference. Photo credit: Office of the Prosecutor General

In Bucha, the UK Ministry of Justice delegation honoured the memory of those killed near the Church of St Andrew the Apostle. It was stressed that despite the rapid reconstruction of infrastructure, it is impossible to restore the lives of those killed by Russia, and that the world must remember these crimes in order to prevent such atrocities from happening again.

“The people of the United Kingdom have stood and continue to stand alongside Ukraine. We support you and will continue to stand with you in this fight“, Alex Davies-Jones said.

Photo: Taras Shapravskyi, Secretary of the Bucha City Council, and Alex Davies-Jones. Photo credit: Bucha City Council

Speaking at the United for Justice conference, she stressed that within the framework of the 100-Year Partnership between Ukraine and the United Kingdom, support for Ukraine would remain unwavering.