Established by a Resolution of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and created at the Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Reykjavik in May, the “Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation Against Ukraine” will be the subject of a first meeting of the parties on 27 June, Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the organisation, announced during an exchange with the Parliamentary Assembly on 19 June, at the opening of the plenary session.
This meeting should be devoted to “rules of procedure” and the convening of a second meeting “before the summer holidays”.
The Secretary General highlighted the informal meeting of the Council of Europe’s Ministers of Justice, which will be held on 11 September in Riga under the Latvian chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, before another meeting of the parties, at the end of which, she hopes, “we will be able to say that the Register of Damage is open to applications”.
Established as a “platform for intergovernmental co-operation, acting within the institutional framework of the Council of Europe”, the “Register of Damage” will document the “damage, loss or injury” caused by the war of aggression launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.
It currently has 42 States Parties.
Its headquarters will be in The Hague, but it is likely that an office will also be set up in Kyiv.
“The Register is a first step”, said Marija Pejčinović Burić.
It is “part of a larger compensation mechanism that needs to be decided by the international community” and will involve “a compensation commission and a compensation fund”. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)