Victim-centred transitional justice; accountability for CRSV and the treatment of vulnerable groups 

Throughout the conference, special attention was paid to justice for victims and survivors. The following vulnerable groups were identified and recognition given to intersectionality issues that may arise in individual cases:

• children (including children born of rape and those left in the occupied territories)
• disabled people
• elderly people
• LGBTQI+ people
• prisoners of war (POWs)
• survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)
• victims of torture and cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment; and
• women.

Discussions centred on:

• Accountability and justice for child victims. Participants agreed on the importance of training those interviewing children in accordance with international standards; and of challenging one’s own assumptions and unconscious bias about the agency and reliability of child witnesses. “The best interest of the child” test was agreed to be the best way forward in any individual case, and may merit further guidance.
• Sexual crimes.  It was considered important to:
  • train on the Murad Code (the ‘Global Code of Conduct for Gathering and Using Information about Systematic and Conflict-Related Sexual Violence’), and the International Protocol on Documenting CRSV, for example, to minimise re-interviewing and re-traumatising witnesses; and
  • avoid creating extra evidential hurdles due to the sexual nature of a crime.  This required challenging our own assumptions and biases around SGBV to change how evidence was assessed and how cases built.
• How alignment with EU and international obligations as part of the EU Accession process might usefully allow for important consideration of which amendments were needed to primary and secondary legislation.
• For designing holistic criminal justice processes, it was considered important to:
  • embed trauma and survivor-centred and inclusive approaches focussed on the rights and dignity of survivors.
  • ensure expert psychological support is available to victims; and the communities supporting them in the longer term.
  • appreciate the challenges of situation-specific societal stigma around children born of rape, and in seeking support for mental health (including victim blaming and shaming).
  • accelerate understanding around the benefits of adopting survivor-centred approaches in criminal justice, such as the likelihood that more victims will feel supported, and so, willing to come forward.
  • ensure survivors understand the different criminal justice mechanisms, the reparations process and the assistance programmes available; and how their informed consent was needed to transfer testimony to other mechanisms.   
  • follow the Murad Code and International Protocol (‘International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict’) and consider developing guidelines for media reporting and anyone engaging with survivors.

Recommendations

• A comprehensive victim-centred Transitional Justice plan should be developed, building on the 2019-20 Transitional Justice roadmap.  This would help donors understand the issues and ensure a common nationwide understanding around realistic prospects for criminal justice and alternative forms of transitional and transformative justice.  
• Trauma-informed, survivor-centred and inclusive approaches should be embedded in:
  • legal education and training for all engaged with the justice system, including the Ukrainian judiciary and lawyersnew laws, policies and procedures 
  • diplomatic, legal and judicial processes.  
• The “best interests of the child” test should guide engagement with child victims.
• The Criminal Procedure Code should be anchored in trauma-informed, survivor-centred approaches.  Further work is needed to support victim coordination centres, survivor support and protection and victim representation.
• The passing and implementation of the Standard Operating Procedures on the Investigation and Prosecution of CRSV as a joint order should play a valuable role; as would related protocols concerning survivor-centred and trauma-informed forensic examinations.
• Peer support networks should be established for different survivor groups to facilitate access to criminal justice, medical and psychological care.
• A plan for providing long-term, context-sensitive psychosocial support should be considered, likely in-community, given the numbers of POWs and survivors.

Rashmin Sagoo, International law and policy consultant

Wilton Park | August 2025

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