On November 14, 2022, a special session of the UN General Assembly is scheduled to consider the possibility of making a decision on supporting a mechanism of compensation to Ukraine for damages caused by the armed aggression of the russian federation creation. A working group of professionals under the leadership of Andriy Yermak has been working on the development of the mechanism for several months. Representatives from the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the President and international law experts cooperate in the group.
“We expect a principle decision of the UN on compensation next week. We understand that the UN Security Council will not approve this idea, because there is no security where russia has the right of veto. That is why we chose the way to obtain a resolution of the UN General Assembly. Such a document is of a recommendatory nature, but the more countries support it, the more weighty it will be. This is a demonstration of the world's public attitude, and we expect that the decision will be fair! The UN session will start next Monday at 17:00 Kyiv time”, – comments Iryna Mudra, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine and member of the working group on the development of a compensation mechanism.
The draft resolution "Promoting legal protection and reparations for Ukraine" was developed by the working group and proposed by the Ukrainian side. It provides recognition by UN states of the necessity to create a compensation mechanism. Its purpose is to compensate for losses and damage to individuals and legal entities that suffered due to the russian invasion in Ukraine. In addition, this mechanism will provide the payment of compensation to victims of war, bereaved relatives, those who suffered torture and sexual violence, prisoners, etc. It will make possible to receive compensation for damage caused to property of various forms of ownership, as well as to the environment. It is assumed that the financing of decisions on the payment of compensation will be carried out through the overseas seized assets of the russian federation. Currently, we are talking about at least 300 billion dollars.
We also remind that after the start of the full-scale invasion, the UN General Assembly has already expressed its support to Ukraine several times and condemned russia's actions. The last time this was on October 12, when 143 of the 193 UN member states condemned illegal "referendums" on the occupied Ukrainian territories.