Ukraine Dialogues: Prioritizing People’s Justice Needs in Times of War

April 5, 2024 | 8:30–11:00 a.m. (EST) New York / 3:30–6:00 (EEST) Kyiv

English to Ukrainian live interpretation will be available for this event.

The Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies at NYU Center on international Cooperation, in partnership with the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) are holding a series of Chatham-house-rules dialogues to ensure people-centered and victim-centered approaches are explored in the context of emergency response, recovery, and sustainable development in Ukraine. While there are a number of global discussions and strategies on the challenges that Ukraine is facing, this dialogue series is the first time that people-centered and victim-centered approaches to access to justice will be explored in depth. This dialogue series is a key step to identifying and addressing peoples’ everyday justice problems amidst the war and utilizing justice as a key tool in emergency response, resilience, and recovery in times of war. Ultimately, the dialogues intend to provide a platform to engage strategically and meaningfully with countries on the lessons of maintaining people-centered justice in times of war. This is crucial both to the stability of support for Ukraine and to ensure that Ukraine moves forward by laying the foundations of a plural, open, just and democratic society.

Dialogue 1 in this series focused on the mental health and psychosocial support needs of victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the lessons that can be learned from other conflict-affected contexts.
Dialogue 2 focuses on prioritizing people’s justice needs in times of war and is intended to create a platform for a peer exchange on the ways in which justice fits into the emergency response and reconstruction landscape in order to address people’s needs. The dialogue will focus on the following:

Priorities of Emergency Response and Reconstruction in Ukraine

What are the current priorities of emergency response, recovery, and reconstruction efforts in Ukraine?

Access to Justice in Ukraine

What is the current state of the legal system in Ukraine, including peoples’ most pressing justice needs and ways to respond to these during war?
Are existing justice efforts people-centered? What needs, if any, are unaddressed?

Access to Justice as Integral to Emergency Response and Reconstruction in Ukraine

Which justice interventions need to be made today to support inclusive and comprehensive reconstruction that rebuilds access to justice, trust, and social cohesion?
How can we integrate emergency response and recovery efforts across justice and development priorities?
What lessons can be learned from countries who have undergone parallel processes?

About the Event Hosts

The Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies is hosted at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation. The Pathfinders for Justice program builds on the Justice for All report and works to promote and support people-centered justice at the national, regional and global level in pursuit of equal access to justice for all (SDG16.3). The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) works across society and borders to challenge the causes and address the consequences of massive human rights violations. It recently published the briefing paper, “Reflections on Victim-Centered Accountability in Ukraine,” which examines actions taken or under consideration to investigate and prosecute war crimes and other human rights violations in Ukraine, and explores the tools that can be applied to deliver justice and reparation to victims and lay the foundation for a more inclusive and democratic country.