ON OCTOBER 12, KHARKIV HOSTED A DISCUSSION OF THE DRAFT LAW “ON THE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD” REGISTERED IN THE VERKHOVNA RADA, INITIATED BY THE DONBAS REGIONAL COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE REFORM (RRJ).
THE EVENT WAS ATTENDED BY THE AUTHORS OF THE DRAFT LAW FROM THE MINISTRY OF REINTEGRATION OF THE TEMPORARILY OCCUPIED TERRITORIES OF UKRAINE, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS FROM THE EU PROJECT “PRAVO-JUSTICE”, THE LEGAL COMMUNITY OF LUHANSK AND DONETSK REGIONS, AND MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC.

“Ukraine, after seven years of aggression by the Russian Federation, needs a defined political framework document that will also contain a number of specific instruments,” said Oleksiy Reznikov, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, in his opening remarks , emphasizing the importance of developing a high-quality document without haste , taking into account additional amendments.
Based on the Venice Commission’s opinion on the draft law, the latter will be considered at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee along with two alternative draft laws.
“In fact, this draft law is being developed for the post-conflict period. And we understand that we need to prepare the legal framework now, not after the conflict is over. […] With this law, we are doing everything to bring this time closer,” said
Dmytro Lubinets, Member of Parliament of Ukraine, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights, De-occupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories in Donetsk and Luhansk Regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, National Minorities and Interethnic Relations.Oksana Tsymbrivska, Chief National Expert of the EU Pravo-Justice Project, thanked the representatives of the government and the Verkhovna Rada for their willingness to hear the voice of the regions: “Almost 3.5 years ago, the EU Pravo-Justice Project initiated the establishment of Regional Justice Reform Councils in six regions of Ukraine to improve communication between the regions and the center in the policy-making process.
And today we are extremely pleased to say that we have this cooperation with key stakeholders, and the central authorities are open to dialogue and are waiting for feedback from the regions.”

“This draft law is the first attempt by the state to at least outline and find solutions to a large number of sensitive issues that cannot be postponed. And the Donbas RRRP’s mission is to become the voice of the region, which is also important to hear. These discussions and explanations of the draft law are important for an adequate perception of the provisions of the draft law and avoiding speculation on certain pain points in the future,” said Olena Fonova, PhD in Law, judge of the Economic Court of Luhansk Oblast, coordinator of the Donbas RPRC. During the first section of the discussion, the drafters of the bill presented its purpose and main provisions.
According to Stepan Zolotar, Director of the Peacebuilding Directorate of the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, and Mykhailo Kamenev, state expert of the expert group on reintegration policies implementation of the Directorate of Reintegration and Humanitarian Demining of the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, the draft law unifies approaches to Crimea and certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and concerns the interaction of the state with citizens during and after the temporary occupation.
“The purpose of the draft law is to show the state’s intentions, that we have an approximate action plan after the de-occupation of the territories, so that we can effectively protect the rights and freedoms of the civilian population,” said Stepan Zolotar. During the second session, representatives of civil society, private sector lawyers, and judges from Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts had the opportunity to express their views on the draft law, its strengths and weaknesses.
Oleksandr Pavlichenko, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, emphasized the need to define the status of all subjects in the draft law, including who is a victim and what is the status of these persons.
According to
Alyona Lunova, advocacy manager at the ZMINA Human Rights Center, a number of messages in the draft law can be perceived ambiguously and need to be finalized in parliament:
“Carefully written legislation on the transitional period is one of the steps towards de-occupation. People should not be afraid of restoring Ukraine’s control over these territories. If they are afraid because they do not understand the consequences, the issue of regaining control will become even more difficult than it is now.”Olena Skovorodina, Head of the Economic Court of Donetsk Oblast, member of the Donbas RPRP
noted that the purpose of the draft law should be more clearly stated in the preamble and that it should contain messages that would be understandable and directed to citizens in the occupied territory:
“We do not approve of the actions of the so-called authorities, but we can recognize the actions of people who are forced to do something […] We must act now and promote Ukraine as a state that accepts what people do at the legislative, judicial and other levels.”Anna Mykytenko, project manager at Global Rights Compliance, commented on the draft law through the prism of international criminal and humanitarian law and offered the following recommendations for its improvement:

• the need to recognize Ukraine’s responsibility to its own population;
• criminal prosecution of international crimes and gross violations of human rights;
• more reasonable provisions for institutional reforms;
• greater attention to the issue of amnesty;
• special attention to children, victims and witnesses of armed conflict and other vulnerable groups, etc.

The third session of the discussion focused on the pain points of the draft law. Olena Fonova, coordinator of the Donbas RPRC, proposed to define the principles of convalidation (recognition) of transactions made in the temporarily occupied territories in the draft law so that people understand that under certain conditions they can legalize the acquired property in Ukraine, as well as to provide for a simplified out-of-court mechanism of convalidation when developing subsequent legal acts.
The participants also discussed the recognition of secondary and higher education documents as a prerequisite for labor integration of the population of the temporarily occupied territories. Olha Shapovalova, Doctor of Law, Professor, Head of the Department of Commercial Law at the V. Dahl East Ukrainian National University of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, member of the Donbas RPRC, proposed to recognize documents on secondary basic education as a draft law, as well as to regulate the issue of documents on higher education: “Children are the most vulnerable category under occupation. They are subject to the will of their parents and cannot choose the territory for education until they are 17 years old.” For our part, Anna Adamska Galant, international expert of the EU Project “Pravo-Justice”, shared international experience in preparing for an effective criminal investigation: “The most important thing is the training of prosecutors and investigating judges. They need to understand the structure of international criminal law, how to conduct investigations and collect evidence. Also important is a specific category of witnesses – the so-called contextual witnesses and internal witnesses – in order to link high-ranking individuals to specific crimes.”

Mykola Hovorukha, Deputy Head of the Department for Supervision of Criminal Proceedings in Crimes Committed in the Context of Armed Conflict, Office of the Prosecutor General, spoke about the areas of work of the department established in 2020, such as procedural guidance on war crimes, coordination of law enforcement agencies in this area, cooperation with the International Criminal Court, and assistance to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in international court cases against the Russian Federation.
At the end of the discussion, the participants expressed their readiness to join the finalization of the draft law in the parliament in order to obtain a high-quality document that will comply with the principles of international criminal and humanitarian law and will have the right messages for both citizens of the uncontrolled territory and the international community.
In December 2021, the Donbas Regional Council for Justice Reform submitted the second set of proposals to the draft law “On State Policy of the Transition Period” developed by the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine. For reference:The Regional Justice Reform Councils (RJRCs) were established with the support of the EU Pravo-Justice Project and operate in Chernivtsi, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa regions and Donbas. To date, members of the Councils have been actively involved in the preparation of a draft law on mediation, amendments to the Bankruptcy Code, proposals to improve legislation on enforcement proceedings, the introduction of an electronic court, and discussions on the concept of transitional justice. The RECs act as permanent working groups that promote the implementation of reforms in accordance with the bottom-up principle: by bringing region-specific challenges and their potential solutions to the level of central authorities.