On July 25, 2018, the subject of transitional justice was presented to law enforcement officers of Donetsk Oblast for the first time in Kramatorsk

This was done during the training entitled Building Capacity of Donetsk Oblast Police for Effective Work in De-Occupied Territories organized by the Kharkiv Institute for Social Research and the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives.

Oleg Martynenko, head of analytics at UHHRU and one of the trainers at the event, told the heads of police units about basic principle of transitional justice. The main emphasis was made on the importance of reforming the security sector, since it is changes in this area that guarantee non-recurrence of armed conflicts in the future. Oleg Martynenko’s speech was accompanied with the example of the implementation of transitional justice in the former Yugoslavia, specifically the police reforms in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The participants’ attention was focused on the processes of demilitarization and de-politicization of police forces, their post-war education in the field of human rights, work with the public, maintaining security during public events, and friendly interaction with various population groups. Donetsk Oblast police officers also learned some communication exercises that, practiced regularly, could significantly increase the transparency of police activities and help establish closer relations with local communities.

We hope that the expertise of UHHRU experts will prove useful in three more front-line cities, where we plan to conduct similar activities.