Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge took part in the 1st Meeting of the Ad hoc Committee on the Establishment of an international Claims Commission for Ukraine (CAHEC), set up to finalise the work on a Convention to establish the Claims Commission under the auspices of the Council of Europe.
Deputy Secretary General thanked the Committee for their work and emphasised the importance of this step forward:
“I am delighted that today you have been able to finalise the key aspects of the draft convention. The establishment of a Claims Commission is so fundamental, because, as you know, the death and destruction in Ukraine continues unabated. I hope we can soon start to redress the human rights violations that have affected the lives of so many victims of the war.”
The Claims Commission will build on the work of the Register of Damage for Ukraine. So far, more than 55,000 people have submitted claims to the Register in the first tranche of 11 categories. The Register plans to open more categories covering all the kinds of damage inflicted on victims of war.
“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,” Deputy Secretary General Berge said.
Deputy Secretary General also visited the premises of the Register of Damage for Ukraine where he thanked the Executive Director Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi and the Register staff for their dedicated work to ensure the registration of damage caused by Russian aggression on Ukraine. Deputy Secretary General stressed that this work represents the key basis for any future recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine.
