The struggle against impunity in Ukraine

When Russia invaded in February 2022, all of Ukrainian society mobilized in response.

The legal profession was no exception.

At JurFem, one of the first Ukrainian associations of women lawyers, pre-war work focused on supporting women in the legal profession, advancing women's rights, and fighting gender-based violence and discrimination. The group worked to improve the legal framework around domestic violence and sexual harassment, and conducted gender-based analyses of proposed legislation. 

Then war brought a new reality, and JurFem quickly shifted to support survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.

A year before the invasion, another group — Lawyers Without Borders Canada — had also filed proposals to help fight gender-based violence in Ukraine. The war forced LWBC to adapt their efforts as well.

"Unfortunately, whenever there's this type of conflict, women are amongst the first victims," says Pascal Paradis, LWBC's executive director and co-founder.

Russian forces are known for using sexual violence as a weapon of war. Humiliation, rape and gang rape, including in front of and by family members, are "in their toolbox," he says. In Syria and Chechnya, "they've always done the same thing." Intercepted communications between Russian soldiers and their spouses at home suggest the behaviour is supported and even encouraged. 

In the wake of these horrific events, legal representation for survivors is always a challenge. 

"Sometimes aid might flow in a country, but it will focus on helping the state institutions and the justice system," Paradis says. Victims of conflict-related sexual violence tend to approach civil society organizations first, he adds, so LWBC's efforts focus on reinforcing their capacity.

In searching for a Ukrainian partner group, Gonzague Dupas, a consultant with LWBC, says JurFem's approach was the right fit. "It felt like their DNA and backbone resembled ours, that we had the same principles. Based on that, we've been able to build trust and work together."

In April of this year, JurFem launched a hotline for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. To date, it's received more than 320 calls. The organization also provides free legal services for survivors who want to go to the police and pursue a prosecution. 

Kateryna Shunevych, a lawyer and board member who heads JurFem's analytical centre, says no one is safe from these "invisible crimes." 

"It doesn't matter what age you are — if you're a man or a woman or a child — Russian soldiers don't think a lot about how to choose a victim."

As of July 10, 2023, 212 cases of conflict-related sexual violence have been officially registered with Ukrainian prosecutors. However, there is no data on what's happening within Russian-occupied territories. All involved know it's where most of the violence occurs. 

"Our partners are telling us that once the occupied territories are freed, it's going to be an avalanche of new cases," Paradis says.

Rather than providing direct legal services or arguing cases, LWBC is involved mainly by providing financial support, training, sharing lessons learned, and building relationships with other lawyers and experts doing similar work around the world. With nearly 150 staff in a dozen countries, LWBC has considerable internal expertise and international contacts to draw on. 

In Columbia, where a civil war has spanned decades, lawyers are well-known for their expertise in representing survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. LWBC spent 20 years supporting Columbian lawyers and is now connecting them with their Ukrainian counterparts.

Given the level of conflict-related sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Ukrainians are also interested in connecting with lawyers there. Drawing on experiences and best practices from elsewhere, the JurFem team applies legal tools and lessons learned to the Ukrainian context.

Shunevych says that since December, JurFem coordinated a multi-disciplinary group within the office of Ukraine's prosecutor general, comprised of national and international criminal justice experts. Its goal is to enhance investigations and procedures, find the best evidence to prove the existence of sexual violence, and provide services for survivors. 

"There are different types of sexual-related violence," Shunevych says. "Our prosecutor's office previously didn't even recognize all of them. Forced marriage, for example – people couldn't understand that this was a crime."

But by sharing international practices and standards, there is a growing understanding and recognition of the range of conflict-related crimes. The group has produced new guidelines for each, which set out a roadmap for police and prosecutors to investigate and collect the necessary evidence.

To date, nine sets of guidelines have been produced and the prosecutor general's office has approved four. There is also draft legislation before Ukraine's parliament aimed at protecting the confidentiality of survivors.

JurFem's lawyers have accomplished this under sometimes dire conditions while dealing with gross human rights violations beyond what most legal practitioners in Canada will ever encounter. Dupas recalls one of their first online seminars, which a Russian missile attack knocked offline. Hearing screams and sirens drove home the reality of what their colleagues were living through.

Yet, once it was over, the JurFem team asked for a recording of the seminar and used the information to successfully incorporate electronic evidence into a case, setting a precedent in Ukraine in the process.

Paradis and Dupas have nothing but admiration. 

"They are incredible lawyers," Paradis says. "We've seen them in action. They're young, but they're so mature and so impressive."

Marta Pavlyshyn, a lawyer and specialist at JurFem's education centre, says she and her team, faced with traumatizing cases, must walk the line of working with empathy while not getting sidelined by the awful things they're hearing. 

"It's horrible to say that you get used to these types of stories because it is not the sort of thing you want to get used to," she says. "But your skin thickens a little bit."

The strength and resolve the JurFem team has shown extends across most of Ukraine's legal community. It has responded to an armed invasion with legal warfare, using all mechanisms available – the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, the European system, the UN system, special rapporteurs, and their legal system. 

Paradis acknowledges that legal solutions cannot fix everything but emphasizes that something incredible is happening in Ukraine. 

"The magnitude of the legal reaction is unseen, unprecedented in the world's history," he says. 

"It shows the extent to which the international legal framework that we've slowly been building since the Second World War is really improving and restructuring," he says. "And that the international legal system is strong enough to be put to use even when bombs are still falling. And to already be saying there won't be impunity? That's really impressive."

Dupas says Ukrainian lawyers are drafting the new textbook on prosecuting cases of mass violence, mass massacres, and conflict-related sexual violence. 

"We will use this textbook in the years to come in other contexts and international lawyers will use the work these lawyers are doing right now," he says. 

"It's such a privilege for us at Lawyers without Borders Canada to be able to support those efforts."

According to Dupas, it is also encouraging that the state is taking matters seriously, which is not always a given in war zones. 

To date, the Quebec government has financed LWBC's work in Ukraine through its international relation policy. The group is awaiting a response to a proposal filed through Global Affairs' Peace and Stabilization Operations Program to continue its work. 

While the current focus of those efforts is stopping and prosecuting violations by Russian soldiers, Pavlyshyn says their sights are set beyond the war to building something better, guided by European Union standards.

"We're looking a lot at labour standards, about the question of reconstruction after the war, how to rebuild the system, how to make the system gender sensitive."

In May, she and Shunevych visited Canada to meet with ministers and organizations to raise awareness about the impact of sexual violence since the Russian invasion and build support for Ukrainian civil society's fight against impunity. 

Pavlyshyn highlights the importance of learning from international collaborators, particularly in countries like Canada. Here, a nationwide feminist policy, along with a province (Quebec) that has established a dedicated tribunal to address sexual violence, and a well-established history of gender equality standards and practices, offer valuable insights.

"We've just begun this process in Ukraine. We're only starting to explain to people why gender equality is important," Pavlyshyn says. 

"We really want to get help from different countries to stop the war. But ultimately, we also want to be a developed country with good practices to protect human rights, internally and externally."