The project focuses on advancing accountability and justice for the victims of Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine. It aims to collect and verify testimonies from witnesses, which is crucial for establishing credible evidence of human rights violations. This evidence will help identify patterns of atrocities, essential for international legal processes and advocacy. By leveraging international mechanisms and Universal Jurisdiction, the action seeks to hold perpetrators accountable, thereby supporting the rule of law.

Additionally, the initiative emphasizes the importance of international media coverage, particularly in the Global South, to counter Russian disinformation and enhance global awareness.

This approach ensures synergy with other development initiatives focused on justice and accountability, while avoiding duplication by complementing ongoing efforts with a specific emphasis on Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

The project’s overall objective is to advance accountability, respect for international law, and justice for the victims of Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine.

The specific objectives include:
1) To collect verified testimonies of war crimes and to highlight these in global media both to counteract Russian propaganda and disinformation, and to publicize the nature and scope of Russia’s war crimes;
2) Using these testimonies, to establish patterns of conduct within human rights violations and atrocities;
3) Using these testimonies, to use international mechanisms, international/domestic jurisdiction, and sanctions regimes to hold perpetrators to account;
4) International advocacy for accountability;
5) To build capacity among Ukrainian investigative journalists and human rights defenders for documenting Russia’s war crimes.

The project’s outcomes are:
1) Trained group of journalists/human rights defenders;
2) Documented war crimes;
3) Analysis of the collected testimonies;
4) Legal action taken to combat impunity of perpetrators, including cases built and ready to be used in court and international mechanisms;
5) Media work and advocacy aimed at informing global public opinion of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Upon its full implementation the project will produce following outputs:
A) Repository of 100 testimonies;
B) 5 submissions to international bodies (incl. ICC, UN Working Groups, Treaty Bodies, UN Charter bodies and mandates, OSCE Moscow Mechanism etc.);
C) 1 criminal complaint in a new jurisdiction;
D) 24 long and short-form media outputs published in the Global North and in the Global South;
E) 3 international events on accountability;
F) 5 multimedia outputs related to combatting Russian disinformation on war crimes.