Recent Posts
- Ukraine recovery should be based on development of territorial communities, innovations, involvement of professional domestic community – results of ESUR forum 29.06.2023
- Ukraine repatriates five more seriously wounded Russian POWs 10.04.2023
- Rada intends to include history of Ukraine, foreign language in final certification for general secondary education 10.04.2023
- Rada terminates protocol on joint anti-terrorist measures in CIS territories for Ukraine 10.04.2023
- 100 Ukrainians, incl defenders of Mariupol, returned according to swap procedure – Yermak 10.04.2023
USA intends to allocate additional $28 mln to investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine, bring those responsible to justice – State Department
KYIV. Feb 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The United States is working to allocate $28 million to support the efforts of Ukrainian domestic authorities and other international and foreign domestic courts during investigations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, the U.S. Department of State said.
“Through the EDRI, the United States has provided $30 million to support documentation and prosecution of war crimes and other atrocities since March 2022, and is working with Congress to provide an additional $28 million to support efforts by Ukraine’s domestic authorities and other international and foreign domestic courts to hold individuals accountable for war crimes,” the State Department said in the press release.
It is noted that the plan to build the capacity of internal organs of Ukraine to bring individuals to justice for war crimes includes support for the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA). Through the ACA, a partnership between the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, the Department of State has provided $10 million to help the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine document, preserve, and analyze evidence of war crimes and other atrocities committed in Ukraine in order to bring them to justice.
The State Department is also working with Congress to provide an additional $10 million to support the ACA’s efforts to recruit experts and other key partners to support the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
In addition, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), under the Justice for all program, is working to strengthen Ukrainian institutions, including the judiciary, to effectively respond to legal disputes related to the armed conflict.
“These efforts include conducting a joint training program for government lawyers at the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and OPG on various international law regimes, the case law of international courts and tribunals, and methods for collecting, evaluating, and synthesizing evidence in line with relevant admissibility rules,” the State Department said.
It also provides for the provision of technical cooperation and capacity building of the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, training of Ukrainian law enforcement officers in methods of investigating war crimes, assistance to surviving victims of war crimes, support for prosecution in the United States and other countries.
“Justice and human rights accountability are central pillars of the United States’ policy on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and the United States is focused on supporting those efforts most likely to bring perpetrators to justice. While the brutal war of choice that President Putin is waging against Ukraine has caused immense suffering, it has also given rise to unprecedented coordinated international action to ensure that those responsible for atrocities in Ukraine are held accountable, whether through domestic judicial processes or international mechanisms and institutions,” the State Department said.
