Human rights organizations as subjects of documenting war crimes

Abstract

The article is devoted to the characterisation of human rights organisations as a subject of documenting war crimes. It is stated that the modern world is inherent in the rapid pace of globalisation and integration of social processes, while long-lasting armed conflicts cause significant damage not only to the national interests of the state on whose territory they take place, but also to the entire international community. It is emphasised that the highest degree of danger of a armed conflict is war. The author provides statistics on the number of armed conflicts and the number of people died.
The author underlines that the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine since 2014 and the war across the entire territory of Ukraine since February 24, 2022, pose a threat to the state sovereignty, national security of the state, safety of the civilian population, integrity of borders, cause large-scale damage to the economic, political and social spheres, and to this day are accompanied by numerous war crimes. The author highlights that it is extremely important to take into account the dynamism and multidimensionality of this crime, to reflect it in the components of national and international criminal justice mechanisms, to ensure that the perpetrators are finally brought to criminal responsibility for genocide and to prevent its recurrence in the future.
It is noted that an important partner for national, foreign and international law enforcement agencies is civil society human rights organisations that document international crimes committed during the Russian-Ukrainian war. These are, first and foremost, the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, the Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group, the Regional Center for Human Rights, the Media Initiative for Human Rights, the DEJURE Foundation, and the Coalition for Documenting War Crimes “Ukraine 5 AM Coalition”, which includes 35 human rights organisations.
The author seeks to define the algorithm of actions of these subjects when documenting war crimes and focuses on important details and aspects of such documentating. The author identifies the problematic issues faced by civil society organisations working on documenting war crimes of a legislative, educational, organisational (tactical) character.