REPARATIONS FOR UKRAINE – Law, History & the Register of Damage for Ukraine

Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi is the Executive Director of the Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. He was appointed to this position by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on 1 July 2023, following the designation of the Conference of Participants of the Register at its first meeting.

As the Executive Director, Markiyan represents the Register and acts on its behalf. He has day-to-day responsibility for overseeing and administering the work of the Secretariat of the Register, with whom he acts to ensure substantive, technical, administrative, and organisational support for the Conference of Participants and the Board of the Register. In addition, he liaises with relevant national and international bodies on various issues related to the Register’s work and the process of collecting claims and evidence, and is responsible for forwarding claims to the Board to be recorded in the Register. Alongside other duties, he also prepares the Register’s annual budget to be adopted by the Conference of Participants, and reports the additional voluntary contributions that have been received by the Register.

Markiyan has more than 20 years’ experience in the fields of international law and dispute resolution, earning him recognition as one of the top Ukrainian lawyers in these areas. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in international law from the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, as well as an LL.M. in international dispute resolution from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Topics that will be addressed:

1. Introduction: Overview of the Register of Damage for Ukraine.
2. Scale and Impact of the War in Ukraine: Human, infrastructural, and economic toll.
3. Historical Background: Overview of modern claims and reparations programs.
4. Legal Framework and Challenges for Ukraine: Legal basis for reparation, and the need for innovation.
5. Mandate, Scope, and Operations of the Register of Damage for Ukraine: Legal basis, structure - and what does the Register (not) do.
6. Claims Process and Implementation: Digital-first system, submission of claims, data processing and output.
7. Work to Establish an International Claims Commission for Ukraine: The need for the next pillars of the compensation mechanism; RD4U’s strategic role.
8. Compensation Fund: What history teaches us about funding reparations efforts: sources of compensation in past claims programs, current proposals for Ukraine, and persistent legal and political obstacles.

Presentation: approximately 30 – 40 mins, with the remainder of the time set aside for questions.