SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE’S RECONSTRUCTION AND RECOVERY MUST INCLUDE REPARATIONS FOR SURVIVORS A joint assessment by the World Bank, the Government of Ukraine, the European Commission and the United Nations published in March 2023 estimated the total cost of reconstruction and recovery at US$486 billion, which includes damage to infrastructure and to the environment, as well as economic and social losse. [...] Yet, despite these commitments, there are two significant omissions in the narrative and debate on the reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine: (i) the delivery of reparations to survivors of international human rights and humanitarian law violations; and (ii) efforts to affect delivery of reparations while the conflict is ongoing (i.e., not only “post-war”). [...] In addition, the mandates and scope of the existing mechanisms are varied, and none represent a comprehensive reparation scheme for survivors of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law throughout the entirety of the conflict. [...] In a first attempt by an EU country to craft a legal basis for asset confiscation, the Estonian parliament passed a draft law in the first reading that would allow the Estonian Government to confiscate Russian frozen assets belonging to sanctioned individuals and entities and use the revenue as “prepayment of the compensation for the damage caused to a foreign state by a violation of the prohibiti. [...] KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE EU: • Consult with civil society and experts on the development and implementation of new legislation to enable the confiscation and repurposing of frozen Russian assets as reparations for survivors of Russia’s violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
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