Victim-Centred Approach
The Register of Damage for Ukraine is strongly committed to pursuing a victim-centred approach in its operations. This approach emphasises the importance of recognising and addressing the needs and rights of victims of Russian aggression against Ukraine, ensuring that their voices are heard, and their experiences acknowledged in the process of collection of compensation claims.
By aligning with the Riga Principles, the Register not only focuses on the meticulous work to record millions of claims for damage, loss and injury, but also prioritises the dignity, respect, and involvement of victims, and ensuring that their perspectives are central to the process, paying particular attention to the most vulnerable categories of victims, such as women and children. This commitment reflects a broader understanding of justice, one that goes beyond mere record-keeping to actively involve and support those most affected by the war.
The victim-centred approach is central to every aspect of the Register’s work – from its organisation and structure to its functioning, from determination of categories of eligible claims to designing the process of submission, processing and recording of claims.
The Register acknowledges that reparation for victims cannot and should not be limited to monetary compensation, and even though it is future compensation that represents the main ambit of the Register’s work, the Register takes a broad view on this issue. It considers that compensation of damage and loss for businesses in Ukraine, both big and small, as well as Ukraine as a State (including its government, local and regional authorities and state-owned or controlled enterprises) constitute key components of victim-oriented reparation, insofar as it can contribute to speedy reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine and its critical infrastructure, stable provision of basic services to the population, functioning of Ukraine’s economy and availability of employment for Ukrainians.
For the Register, the victim-centred approach rests on several fundamental principles: inclusivity, participation, accessibility and security.
Inclusivity
The Register is committed to pursuing inclusive justice for all victims of Russian aggression against Ukraine. It is firmly stipulated in the Register’s Statute that it shall receive claims from individuals, legal entities and the state of Ukraine. The Register’s mandate is broad and is meant to include claims for various categories of material and non-material damage, including those related to loss of life, personal injury, torture, sexual violence, involuntary displacement, forced relocation, property damage, revenue loss, other forms of economic harm, as well as others.
That way, everyone who was affected by the war could have a pathway to justice and reparation.
The Register’s approach makes sure that any disadvantage that may be caused by factors such as gender, disability, race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, socio-economic background, marital or displacement status, age or other factor does not reduce the prospects of justice.
Participation
The participation of victims/survivors is essential to legitimacy and success of any reparation program. It promotes empowerment, understanding, accountability, as well as healing and recovery.
The Register allows the victims and survivors of the war to directly participate in the reparation process. The Register will give victims/survivors a voice by having them tell their stories through the submission of claims – including their statements and other evidence – in the hope of helping them restore a sense of control that may have been lost due to the trauma they experienced and putting them on a tangible road to recovery.
Victims/survivors often have unique needs and preferences that require tailored and responsive solutions, and the Register is committed to taking this into account when developing its rules and regulations for the claims’ submission process, including evidentiary standards.
Avoiding re-traumatisation is essential for protecting the well-being and dignity of victims/survivors who have experienced trauma, and the Register is committed to ensuring that its work and processes are designed to avoid forcing the victims/survivors to relive the horrors that they had gone through, to the greatest extent possible.
It includes active cooperation with law enforcement authorities and other organisations with the aim of relying on statements, testimonies, and other evidence already given by victims/survivors in the context of other investigations.
While the Register cannot provide other forms of reparation, such as measures for physical and psychological recovery, psychosocial support and rehabilitation, it is committed to working with organisations to coordinate and provide information on access to such services.
Accessibility
The Register is committed to ensuring a user-friendly interface for its claims’ submission process to optimise user experience and reduce the learning curve to promote accessibility and inclusivity for all.
The need to receive and process millions of claims requires the Register to rely on modern technology and receive all claims and information in digital form. However, the means for submission of claims – Ukraine’s Diia web portal – is familiar and will be made accessible to every victim. The interface shall be easy to navigate and aim to minimise the time and effort required to fill out the claims’ forms. It shall aim to simplify the learning process for new users through intuitive design elements, clear instructions, and helpful guidelines.
Claimants that are not well-versed in modern technology will receive the required assistance.
The Register is also placing great emphasis on making the required evidence easily accessible to the victims/survivors by connecting various registers and databases to Diia and ensuring automated transmission of information from them. This, however, does not prejudice the victims’/survivors’ freedom to submit the evidence they feel is necessary to tell their story and to substantiate their claims as they feel necessary.
The Register is also committed to ensuring that information on the claims’ submission process is widely available and accessible to all sections of the war-affected population taking into consideration language, access to and knowledge of technology, the diverse needs and abilities of users (including those with disabilities or special requirements), preferred and trusted communications channels and formats, and gender roles.
The Register is also committed to disseminating information on the claims’ submission process via diverse communication channels to ensure that persons without Internet access and/or mobile phone connections, including the occupied territories and zones of active hostilities.
Security
The Register is committed to ensuring the security of all information submitted to it. We are acutely aware that for the submission of claims, victims/survivors are asked to provide the most sensitive information about themselves and about what has happened to them. The Register shall only receive personal data about victims/survivors with their explicit consent. The Register will not seek to obtain such data from other sources (such as databases managed by other entities), and the Register will not transfer such data to any third party without consent. The Register intends to abide by the highest standards of data protection.
The Register is also committed to ensure security of data submitted to it in the face of cyber threats from both state and non-state actors. No effort or resource is spared with this in mind.
