Despite the fact that the intensity of the conflict goes down, it continues to take away lives of civilians. Last year, more than 100 civilians died in Donbas, and more than 500 were injured. Most of these cases were acts of war crimes committed by combatants of both sides of the conflict. NGOs continue to document these facts in order to bring the perpetrators to justice and make efforts to ensure that the culture of impunity in the Donbas does not become a common practice.

On September 18, the interactive “Memorial Map” (http://memorialmap.org/) was presented by UHHRU during a joint IPHR and Truth Hounds side event within OSCE HDIM 2017. The map is a modern resource that collected and visualized information on more than 10,000 dead on both sides. Victim identification and memorial mechanisms should be the first step towards reconciliation and objective coverage of events.

Please watch the video of the side event here.

The report “Fee for the War” on the possibility of bringing foreigners to justice for crimes that took place in eastern Ukraine during the conflict was of the special interest. It turned out that the participation of Serbian Chetniks in the armed conflict in Serbia is a taboo subject that is not covered by the media. Although the public feels it necessary to be informed about such cases. On the contrary, in Moldova, about ten court decisions have already been delivered on the fact of the participation of their citizens in hostilities in Donbass.

This practice should be widespread because mercenary poses a global threat to international security. Mercenary is somewhat interconnected with other crimes such as terrorism, illegal arms trafficking, drugs, kidnapping, organized crime. It is also about a comprehensive international crime, the security of states, the latent threat and the undermining of statehood under certain circumstances in countries whose citizens are mercenaries. In addition, the fight against mercenaries corresponds to the fulfilment by states of their international obligations.

Text by Oleksii Bida