Commentary

The following are opinion articles or commentary written by MATRA-Ukraine team members:

Gabriela Radu, 'Is Ukraine Finally Breaking Its 24-Year International Criminal Court Commitment Phobia?', 20 September 2024 [English]

- Opinion article discussing the hurdles following the ratification of the Rome Statute in implementing necessary domestic legislation for full compliance with the Statute.

Asymmetrical Haircuts, 'Episode 105 – Prosecuting CRSV in Ukraine with Anna Sosonska and Anastasiia Moiseieva', 28 June 2024 [English]

- Podcast discussing challenges of prosecuting CRSV in Ukraine with Anna Sosonska of Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General and Anastasiia Moiseieva, legal adviser at Global Rights Compliance.

[SCL Lecture] - 'The Register of Damage for Ukraine: Towards Reparation for Victims?', 4 June 2024 [English]

- Lecture taking stock of the developments surrounding the Register of Damage for Ukraine at this critical stage, addressing pertinent questions on a comprehensive approach for victim reparations.

[SCL Lecture] - 'Pursuing Accountability for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine', 25 October 2023 [English]

- Lecture discussing various models and mechanisms considered for pursuing accountability for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

Maksym Vishchyk and Jeremy Pizzi, 'Compromises on Territory, Legal Order, and World Peace: The Fate of International Law Lies on Ukraine’s Borders', 6 October 2023 [English | Ukrainian]

- Opinion article discussing the narrative of forcing Ukraine into territorial concessions, which threatens to deliver a fatal blow to the rule-based world order and contradicts duties imposed on States.

Maksym Vishchyk, 'Trials of Ukrainian Prisoners of War in Russia: Decay of the Combatant’s Immunity', 21 August 2023 [English | Ukrainian]

- Opinion article analyzing the Russian Federation's trials of Ukrainian Prisoners Of War in violation of the core International Humanitarian Law principle of combatant immunity.

[Podcast] - 'International Criminal Court Arrest Warrants for President Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova: What Are the Legal and Political Implications?', 6 July 2023, Part 1 & Part 2 [Part 1 – English | Part 2 – English]

- Podcast exploring political and legal implications of the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova. Part one discusses the background to the ICC Arrest Warrants, immunity, and jurisdiction. Part two continues with debates around the crime of aggression, calls for a Special Tribunal for Aggression, and its relation to the ICC arrest warrants.

Asymmetrical Haircuts, ‘Ukrainian War Crimes Trials with Ukrainian Judges,’ Episode 70 (2 December 2022)

- Podcast discussing the realities of the Ukrainian judiciary in adapting their work to the conflict and current debates on adjudicating fair war crimes trials with Ukrainian judges Svitlana Yakovleva and Hanna Maina, and associate professor and postdoctoral research fellow Gaiane Nuridzhanian during the MATRA-Ukraine Conference organized by T.M.C. Asser Instuut and Global Rights Compliance (GRC).

Harriet Salem, ‘Ukraine Series: Interview with Wayne Jordash’ Maastricht Blog on Transitional Justice (21 November 2022)

- Blog post on interview with British lawyer and Managing Partner of Global Rights Compliance (GRC), Wayne Jordash QC on supporting Ukrainian prosecutors and investigators working on war crimes cases.

Clingendael Spectator, ‘Q&A: Russia’s War and the Power of International Law’ (26 October 2022)

- Q&A with Scots solicitor and associate fellow at the T.M.C Asser Instituut, Victoria Kerr on the wider geopolitical consequences of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Anna Mykytenko and Maksym Vichchyk, ‘"All Our Hope is in the Famine”: Why an Investigation into Starvation Crimes in Ukraine is Urgently Needed’, OpinioJuris, 9 August 2022

- Opinion article defining the contextual elements of ‘starvation’ as a war crime in light of Russia’s conduct in Ukraine, and arguing for an investigation into indicators of Russia’s use of starvation as an unlawful method of warfare.

Global Rights Compliance, ‘International Law and Defining Russia’s Involvement in Crimea and Donbas’ (2022) [English]

- Legal opinion on the facts around Russia’s involvement in Crimea and Donbas between December 2013 and 13 February 2022.

Sonya Lukashova, ‘British Lawyer Wayne Jordash: Russia’s Crimes are not Random; this is its Method’ Global Rights Compliance, 21 July 2022

- Interview of British lawyer Wayne Jordash QC revealing the practicalities and challenges of investigating war crimes in Ukraine relating to national prosecutors, civil society, and evidence.

Global Rights Compliance, 'Legal (Un)Certainty of Occupation: Crimea and Donbas', Conference Extracts (June 2021) [English]

- Extracts from the Global Rights Compliance (GRC) six-panel conference titled, ‘Legal (Un)Certainty of Occupation: Crimea and Donbas’ held between 9-11 June 2021 providing impartial expert legal commentary on the most salient issues of international law of relevance to Crimea and Donbas.

Christophe Paulussen, ‘The Ukraine War, the OSCE Moscow Mechanism’s report and the unveiling of truth’ in ‘Russia’s War Against Ukraine: Implications for the Future of the OSCE’, OSCE Network Perspectives I/2022, June 2022, pp. 65-69

- An opinion piece highlighting the positive role of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism in light of its ‘Report on Violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity committed in Ukraine since 24 February 2022’.

Victoria Kerr, 'Debunking the Role of International Law in the Ukrainian Conflict', OpinioJuris, 8 March 2022

- Opinion article discussing the role of international law in the Ukrainian conflict.

Victoria Kerr and Sofia Stolk, ‘Assembling the Pieces: The Accountability Puzzle for International Crimes in Ukraine’, in Kramer, D., Petrić, D., Kerr, V., Stolk, S. and Vos, R., 2022 War In Ukraine: Politics, Law and Identity, Amsterdam Law Forum, 14(1), p.20

- Commentary providing an exposé of existing accountability avenues being pursued to address international crimes committed in Ukraine, and identification of the gaps and merits of each to support their plausibility in this initiative.

Florent Beurret and James Sexton, ‘The Russian invasion of Ukraine: International legal implications’, T.M.C. Asser Instituut, 28 March 2022

- A report describing speakers’ contributions to the T.M.C. Asser Instituut and The Hague Humanity Hub’s live panel discussion on the international legal implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 8 March 2022.

Maksym Vishchyk and Anastasiia Moiseieva, ‘Crimean Tatars: Eight Years of Anything but Marginal Resistance’, EJIL: Talk!, 25 March 2022

- Blog post responding to Professor Alain Pellet’s reflection on the Crimean Tatars’ ‘marginal’ reaction to Russia’s activities in Crimea since 2014 and discussing the ensuing human rights violations and crimes committed against them in 2014 and beyond.

Maksym Vishchyk, ‘Insight from Ukraine: Revitalizing Belief in International Law’, Just Security, 18 March 2022 [English | Ukrainian]

- Opinion article by Ukraine-based lawyer Maksym Vishchyk reflecting on the historical and public perception on the value of international law and the role of international lawyers in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.