ILI, together with its partners, held a training session for human rights organizations on obtaining disability status for people affected by the war
Ukraine needs specialists who can help civilian victims of Russian aggression document health damage and obtain disability status resulting from war. This was the key message of the practical online training for human rights organizations, “Documenting Health Damage Suffered by Civilian Victims: National and International Mechanisms.” The event was organized by the Institute of Legislative Ideas (ILI) in cooperation with the NGO Tenth of April and with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.
The training brought together more than fifty human rights defenders who assist civilians affected by Russian aggression. Its purpose was to strengthen participants’ knowledge and practical skills in providing legal assistance to civilian victims, particularly in documenting health damage and ensuring access to support mechanisms for individuals who have obtained disability status resulting from war.
Andrii Klymosiuk, Project Manager at ILI, emphasized the importance of properly documenting war-related damage in order to hold the aggressor state accountable and preserve historical memory. With the support of the International Renaissance Foundation, ILI conducted a study on the process of obtaining disability status resulting from war.
“Proper documentation of damage is a prerequisite for compensation payments, as well as for advocating sanctions and the confiscation of Russian assets. Our research revealed a significant gap between the number of people harmed by Russian aggression and the number of those who have received official state recognition of that harm. The reasons vary: complex procedures, lack of information, difficulties in proving the link between an injury and the war, and the absence of a clear step-by-step process,” said Andrii Klymosiuk.
During the first part of the training, Anastasiia Shepelenko, Head of the Legal Department at the NGO Tenth of April, presented the national mechanism for documenting health damage suffered by civilian victims and obtaining disability status resulting from war in Ukraine. She outlined the five stages of acquiring this status – from medical documentation to changing the legal grounds of disability – and noted that victims face significant practical challenges at every stage. The assessment of daily functioning remains particularly problematic, as decisions of the former Medical and Social Expert Commissions (MSECs) often do not correspond to the available medical documentation.
“We can conditionally divide the procedure for establishing the causal link and obtaining the status into five stages: medical treatment and initial documentation; criminal proceedings and obtaining victim status; assessment of a person’s daily functioning; application to the interagency commission under the Ministry of Veterans Affairs; and changing the legal grounds of disability and obtaining disability status resulting from war. Each stage has its own regulatory framework and related practical challenges,” noted Anastasiia Shepelenko.
During the second part of the training, Ihor Karaman, Legal Adviser at the Kyiv Office of the Register of Damage for Ukraine, explained the procedure for submitting claims under category A2.3 “Serious Bodily Injury,” describing the specifics of its autonomous definition and the process of filing applications through the Diia portal. He also highlighted that claims may be submitted even when the damage occurred outside the territory of Ukraine, including within the territory of the aggressor state itself.
“Claims under the Serious Bodily Injury category may be submitted to the Register even if the damage occurred outside Ukraine. For example, if a servicemember was taken prisoner and transferred to Russia, where they suffered bodily injuries, those injuries may still qualify. If the unlawful deprivation of liberty or deportation originated from the territory of Ukraine, a claim concerning subsequent events may also be submitted to the Register, even if the actual harm occurred abroad,” explained Ihor Karaman.
ILI encourages victims to start documenting their losses and submitting claims to the Register now, including in other categories, without waiting for compensation commissions to be established. This can be done with the help of a practical guide developed by ILI based on the Register’s official documents.
This material was prepared with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the joint initiative “Strengthening the Capacity of Victims in Documenting Damage and Accessing the RD4U.” The material reflects the views of the authors and does not necessarily represent the position of the International Renaissance Foundation.