Ukraine: IBA supports legal profession’s push for accountability

Ruth Green, IBA Multimedia JournalistThursday 13 October 2022

Despite the ongoing hostilities, time has not stood still for Ukraine’s legal profession. As a recent trip to Kyiv by the IBA Executive Director revealed, the country’s legal community continues to advocate for citizens’ rights as troops fight Russian aggression on the frontline.

The IBA has supported Ukraine’s legal community since the start of the invasion. As the country entered its seventh month of war, from 5-10 September, Mark Ellis, IBA Executive Director, met with high-level government officials, senior members of the legal community and non-governmental organisations in Ukraine.

The upheaval for the legal profession since the outbreak of the war has been monumental, says Valentyn Gvozdiy, Vice-President of the Ukrainian National Bar Association (UNBA), who met Ellis in Kyiv. ‘From the very first days of the war, we did all possible actions to ensure that our members can practise even during martial law,’ Gvozdiy told Global Insight. ‘It was really difficult to ensure provision of services in the regions where hostilities were quite active and people needed to be protected.’

The country continues to face significant legal and judicial challenges. The imposition of martial law necessitated changes to Ukraine’s criminal procedure code, while more than 130 courts were forced to change territorial jurisdiction due to the ongoing hostilities.

These developments, on top of the imminent dangers facing citizens, have made support for the country’s legal profession even more vital, says Gvozdiy. ‘Since 24 February we have just became braver,’ he says. ‘We’ve lost thousands of our citizens. It's an aggressive war and every day it becomes worse and worse. That's why we really need this moral support.’

It’s a challenging process because of the complexities of bringing somebody to justice for the crime of aggression. The IBA can play a role by bringing our own expertise and views on this very unique crime

Mark Ellis
Executive Director, The International Bar Association

A survey conducted in April by the Ukrainian Bar Association (UBA) indicates that around 30 per cent of law firms ceased operations completely at the start of the war, but that 70 per cent combined legal activities with either volunteering to support military efforts on the frontline or those communities left behind.

Inna Liniova, the UBA’s Executive Director, also met Ellis in Kyiv and says the legal profession has embraced opportunities to provide pro bono legal assistance. This has been exemplified by the success of the UBA’s hotline, which was established the day after the invasion to provide free legal advice on issues such as mobilisation, immigration, travel regulations and child custody.

Demand was so high at the start, says Liniova, that some 200 lawyers were manning the hotline. 30 lawyers continue to volunteer for the service which has processed 5,000 requests to date and now has its own dedicated website to help citizens process requests at the click of a button.

The IBA has already supported the UBA in hosting online language classes for its members and partnered with the UNBA to deliver a series of successful online seminars. As many legal and business activities resume in Ukraine, the IBA is working with both organisations to provide ongoing training and support for their members, both in Ukraine and abroad.

The UNBA has also created a special charity fund through the Benevity Causes portal to provide assistance for advocates who have been injured, lost homes, jobs or loved ones or need financial support for food or medicine. Each dollar donated is doubled by partner LexisNexis.

Gvozdiy hopes to raise money to provide training for legal professionals forced to leave the country. ‘It's very important to help them integrate into professional society and to earn some money,’ he says. ‘We are waiting for them to come back to Ukraine, but for now we need to support our members. It doesn't matter where they are – in Mariupol or in London – all of them are living in difficult times.’

Meanwhile, Liniova hopes the UBA’s moves to expand its membership to international lawyers will embolden the international legal community to support Ukraine. ‘We believe the legal community has to have a strong say in what is happening in Ukraine,’ she says. ‘If we gain members from other countries this will give us a voice that speaks multiple languages. We will become an association that can argue important political developments like a tribunal for the crime of aggression, sanctions and other means.’ International members can also opt to cover the membership fees of up to five Ukrainian lawyers who are unable to afford the cost of membership as a result of the hostilities.

Ellis, who has joined both the UBNA and UBA, says the IBA’s ongoing partnerships with both organisations have been invaluable and that the IBA fully supports both the legal community and the entire country’s quest for accountability. ‘This is a major focus for Ukraine and its leaders are adamant that Russia – particularly individuals such as Mr. Putin – need to be brought to justice for the crime of aggression,’ he says. ‘It’s a challenging process because of the complexities of bringing somebody to justice for the crime of aggression. The IBA can play a role by bringing our own expertise and views on this unique crime.’

Ellis is no stranger to post-conflict justice, having advised on the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and been actively involved with the Iraqi High Tribunal. However, he says it felt necessary to have the IBA’s presence on the ground during what is still a very active conflict. ‘It was important to be there in person, to be able to speak out against the war and against the atrocities that are being committed,’ he says.

Ellis says the trip also gave him the opportunity to see first-hand the devastation in Ukraine. ‘Although certainly during my professional life I have seen atrocities and been involved in ensuring that those who commit them are brought to justice, this was the first chance that I had to see with my own eyes how our eyeWitness to Atrocities project can help in ensuring that those that have committed these atrocities are brought to justice,’ he says. To date, more than 20,000 images and videos from Ukraine have been uploaded to the eyeWitness app – the most the app has received during any conflict.

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