Author: Gunduz Mamedov, PhD in Law, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine in 2019-2021, expert of the Coalition "Ukraine. Five in the Morning"
Why international humanitarian law should be implemented in the Armed Forces of Ukraine
For almost a year and a half, the Working Group on the Implementation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and the Provision of Legal Services has been operating within the command of the Territorial Defence Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. During this time, it managed to implement many projects that need to be scaled up to the level of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The idea of creating the Working Group was born in the first tumultuous days of full-scale Russian aggression. And it crystallised in the first days of the de-occupation of the Kyiv region, when the scale of international crimes committed by the Russian army became clear and the evidence should not be lost. And it was the Armed Forces of Ukraine that were the first contact for the victims, so, in addition to security challenges and repelling the aggressor, they ensured the preservation of evidence that would facilitate future justice.
That is why a specialised working group was formed on the basis of the Territorial Defence Forces, which played a key role in the liberation of the territories, to focus on the implementation of international humanitarian law and related tasks. In fact, the main goal of the working group was to change attitudes and approaches to the application of IHL. After all, this should become the foundation for the further transformation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces into an effective and efficient mechanism for protecting the country that meets the standards of the civilised world. After all, international humanitarian law is not called the law of war for nothing. It is essentially about the rules of warfare. Rules that are a product of the development of civilisation and allow us to be part of the civilised world. Rules that remind us of humanity even in such terrible times and do not allow us to behave like the Russian army. The rules that, on the one hand, protect civilians, the wounded and prisoners of war (who are protected categories), and on the other hand, protect the military itself from committing crimes, and thus become a preventive tool.
The work involved experts in national and international law, lawyers, attorneys, and prosecutors who, having been mobilised to the Armed Forces, used their civilian experience to adapt the TRR Forces to work with the law of war.
A number of tools were chosen to achieve this goal:
- Ensuring compliance with international humanitarian law (the law of armed conflict) in the TRTF of the Armed Forces of Ukraine;
- introducing a mechanism for collecting data (preserving evidence) from the battlefield on violations of IHL and human rights;
- introduce a mechanism for the participation of the Logistics Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the provision of free legal aid in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On the Principles of National Resistance";
- development and implementation of a national model of involvement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in state measures to protect and defend cultural heritage and cultural property during armed conflict.
This was the key focus of the working group.
I would like to dwell on the implementation of IHL norms in more detail, as this is the most ambitious task, while the others serve as tools for its implementation.
15.03.2024
