During the conference “Crimea Global. Understanding Ukraine through the South” a special event on the topic: “Is there a real prospect of justice in Ukraine? What does international experience say about it?” was held

 The organizers invited experts and human rights activists from Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Libya to participate in the discussion. Ihor Ponochovnyi, head of the Prosecutor’s Office for the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, also joined the discussion.

“We wanted to use this wonderful opportunity to talk not only about understanding Ukraine , but also about understanding the South and see if we can find common points in the context of accountability and justice for the most serious crimes committed in Ukraine and beyond. No matter what part of the world you come from, if you bear the burden of war, experience its tragedy and fight for justice”, said Nadia Volkova, director of the Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group and representative of the “Ukraine. 5AM” Coalition, who moderated the event.

The participants in the conversation ultimately concluded that the issues they raised, regardless of the country they represented, were repeated. The issue of the imperfection of national legislation became a common theme in the speeches of all the speakers.  They also discussed the political will of international institutions, which is sometimes lacking to take decisive steps in the investigation of international crimes and holding the perpetrators accountable.

Ihor Ponochovnyi shared the Ukrainian experience in the field of justice and punishment for war crimes. He spoke about the Ukrainian experience of investigations and the challenges that the Prosecutor’s Office for  the Autonomous Republic of Crimea faced with the beginning of Russian aggression.  He had to work with something that he had not dealt with either in his previous practice or in his studies – the norms of international humanitarian law.

“The murder of a political activist could have been qualified simply as a regular homicide, not a war crime. Similarly, the deportation of Crimeans outside Crimea was also not investigated as a war crime, but as an intentional deprivation of liberty. Such absurd things were happening, and it took a long time to realize that these were serious violations of international humanitarian law”, explains Igor Ponochovnyi. He adds that the Prosecutor’s Office, together with non-governmental organizations, began to cooperate with the ICC. But since the beginning of the invasion, the state has not had any interaction with this structure. Among the challenges, the official names imperfect legislation that does not take into account the specifics of crimes committed during the armed aggression and as a result of the occupation of Crimea.

Farzaneh Hosseini, a lawyer and human rights activist, is originally from Iran but has lived in exile in the UK for most of her life. Her uncles were executed in Iran in the 1980s and her aunt in 2013.

“One of the campaigns that I am involved in is to ensure that we bring the perpetrators to justice for one of the most serious crimes that the Iranian regime has committed against the Iranian people. Within a month or so, we had a massacre when more than 30,000 political prisoners were executed, including my relatives. That is why I joined the efforts to bring justice closer,” Farzaneh Hosseini explained her motivation.

The organization “Lawyers for Justice”, іn addition to documenting human rights violations and crimes committed in Libya, also works on behalf of victims whose rights have been violated. Jürgen Schurr, the head of the organization’s legal department, explains that their efforts are aimed at making the voices of such people heard more loudly during the investigation of the most serious crimes, as well as providing victims with legal support. He calls the situation in Libya extremely difficult, but the challenges often resemble those experienced by victims in other countries.

“First of all, it concerns the incapacity of legislation to hold individuals accountable for war crimes. It also includes the lack of an independent judicial system, attacks on judges, lawyers or legal groups, and the complete lack of political will at the national level to bring the perpetrators to justice. In other words, those in power are not interested in seeing progress in the judicial process. Some state bodies, in particular the police, are influenced by corruption, so there is no capacity or interest at the national level to see real results of the investigation or prosecution”, says Jürgen Schurr. He adds that 12 years ago the case of Libya was referred to the ICC, the prosecutor quickly initiated the investigation process, but nothing has happened since then. “Some even suggest that the launch of this process has become a serious obstacle to justice in Libya, as it hindered the creation of other, more effective mechanisms for holding criminals accountable”, Jürgen Schurr states.

Mossad Mohamed Ali Mossad, Executive Director of the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) from Sudan, a former commercial lawyer, has been involved in human rights protection since 2005. The genocide in his country in 2005 forced him to retrain and change his outlook on life.

“In Sudan, victims have been waiting for years to see progress in the international justice system. The government is not willing to ensure investigations and accountability. The second reason is the capacity of the system itself in terms of legislation, which does not include articles or provisions that would cover war crimes or crimes against humanity. Before the ICC investigation of crimes in Sudan began, there was no mention of such crimes in the legislation at all. We were in the same situation as Ukraine, we relied on our own legislation and did not expect this to happen and that we would find ourselves in a situation where international crimes would be committed on our territory”, Mohamed Ali Mossad outlines the situation.

Afghanistan has been in a constant conflict since 1978, which began with the intervention. Ehsan Qaane, the National Coordinator of the International Center for Transitional Justice, lost one of his grandfathers at that time, whose fate remains unknown. This became one of the motivations that led to the decision to engage in human rights activities. Meanwhile, impunity continues, and the perpetrators have not yet been brought to justice.

“We see that communities have been suffering from ethnic and religious conflicts for almost a century. Some of my colleagues insist that this is also an attempt to commit genocide – there are now calls to investigate possible genocide in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban came to power in 2021, Afghan women not only face significant restrictions, but they are deprived of the right to education; no one can attend school beyond the sixth grade. They are also prohibited from working, even in the civil service or in UN agencies. We are now working to invoke Article 7 of the Rome Statute, because this is gender-based persecution. In fact, this is gender apartheid, a new term that differs in form but not in substance from what happened in South Africa”, Ehsan Qaane draws parallels. He also emphasized that throughout the conflicts in Afghanistan, preference was given to peace initiatives and settlements, while justice remained a non-priority. “In the end, 20 years later, we have neither peace nor justice,” Eshan summarized.