Check against delivery - Speech by Bjørn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Dear friends,

Thank you for a productive meeting and your individual contributions.

I am delighted that last week the Committee of Ministers adopted the terms of reference for setting up this important Committee.

And that is in large part due to your hard work — working together to ease the negotiations and make this happen so quickly.

I am delighted that today you have been able to finalise key aspects of the draft convention.

Thank you all for working so hard and making sometimes difficult compromises — because this is complicated, sensitive work.

We must continue to work towards our common aim — a Claims Commission as part of justice for Ukraine.

I hope very much that everything will continue to go smoothly.

The draft convention will be submitted to the Committee of Ministers, and thereafter for the opinion of the Parliamentary Assembly.

We hope that the convention will be adopted at the diplomatic conference here in The Hague on 16 December — and that it will come into force in 2026.

We are under a tight schedule, but the establishment of a Claims Commission is so fundamental, because, as you know, the death and destruction in Ukraine continues unabated.

A just and lasting peace – and an immediate end to the Russian aggression in Ukraine remains the key priority.

Part of this is to make the Claims Commission a reality as soon as possible — and recent progress is very encouraging.

I hope we can soon start to redress the human rights violations that have affected the lives of so many victims of the war.

So far, more than 55,000 people have submitted claims to the Register of Damage for Ukraine, and these claims are just in the first tranche of 11 categories.

Across the next couple of months, the Register plans to open 10 more categories — perhaps we will end up with as many as 43 categories, covering all the kinds of damage inflicted on victims of war.

I also note that the Register is already processing claims and has recorded more than 12,000 as being eligible.

There is potential for hundreds of thousands of claims, if not more, and the Register is now actively investigating a project looking at the use of artificial intelligence to process them at scale.

It is also important that the register is engaged in a broad outreach campaign across all of Ukraine to raise awareness.

And here they have set up a Civil Society Coordination Platform through which it cooperates with more than 50 Ukrainian NGOs.

Of course, the question continues to be — how are we going to pay for this?

Ultimately millions — billions — are required to try and compensate people who have been injured, who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and of course, their loved ones.

We can never give back what they have lost, but justice requires compensation, and this again will no doubt be linked with the overall rebuilding and reconstruction of Ukraine after the war.

In this regard, we will continue the discussions to help set up a compensation fund.

At the same time, we should note that the European Court of Human Rights continues to rule on cases against Russia.

Despite being expelled from the Council of Europe, Russia remains legally bound by the judgments of the Court.

The Council of Europe is working on many projects aimed at helping to redress the wrongs done to Ukraine and its people.

We are partnering with Ukrainian authorities to enhance protection for children including through the Consultation Group on the Children of Ukraine and of course the Secretary General recently appointed the Special Envoy on the Situation of the children of Ukraine.

We also continue our efforts to set up a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine — endorsed at the ministerial meeting in Luxembourg in May.

President Zelenskyy and Secretary General Berset signed an agreement in Strasbourg on 25 June on the establishment of the Special Tribunal.

This initiative has been strongly supported by our Member States and also non-Member States, through the valuable work of the Core group.

Now is the time for all of us – or Member States, the EU and others – to follow through on the political will they have expressed.

Dear friends, we must do everything we can to support Ukraine, but also to lay the foundations for just and lasting peace.

Through the work of the Register of Damage, a new Claims Commission, the establishment of a Special Tribunal on the crime of aggression and the projects and assistance we offer Ukraine on a daily basis through our joint Action Plan, we are helping secure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.

Again, I thank you for taking part in this historic meeting here in The Hague – and I thank each one of you for your commitment and work to forward a vital project for Ukraine and Europe.