In March, a delegation led by Rachel Taylor, ECC’s Executive Director, alongside the directors of Ukrainian CRN members, Lera Lauda (Ukraine Memorial Platform) and Oleksandr Pavlichenko (Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union) visited the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. This strategic visit was part of an ongoing project to strengthen support for casualty recording efforts in Ukraine.
Cybersecurity and evidence sharing
As part of the Humanitarian Partnerships and Networks Week event, the delegation met with cybersecurity experts from the Cyberpeace Institute to discuss collaboration processes for enhancing the data protection and cybersecurity capacity of CRN members.
Extrajudicial killings and accountability for war crimes
Rachel, Lera and Oleksandr had a private meeting with Mr Morris Tidball-Binz, the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, where they were able to brief him on the killings of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the temporarily occupied territories. The Rapporteur encouraged CRN members – from any part of the world – to send information about similar cases to his office for investigation. CRN members can contact him directly or speak to ECC first if they want more information about the process.
Honouring victims
Lera was able to fulfil the wishes of the family of a Ukrainian soldier killed in action. Maksym Kryvtsov was an artist, who had always dreamt of visiting Patagonia. With assistance from the Ukrainian delegation to the United Nations, Lera was able to meet the Ambassador of Chile and present her with one of Maksym’s artworks. She explained the significance of Patagonia to the artist and his family, and the Ambassador offered to help arrange a display of his works in a museum in Chile. Her Excellency explained that, as a country which had suffered through its own period of political violence, Chile understood the importance of documenting and remembering every victim.
Lera Lauda (Ukraine Memorial Platform) and Her Excellency Mrs Claudia Fuentes Julio. ©ECC 2025.
Enhancing collaboration
The delegation met with OHCHR staff, including the Methodology and Training Team, the Statistics Team and the SDG 16.1.2 reporting team. They discussed ways to enhance collaboration between the UN and civil society casualty recording processes to ensure information can be shared safely and more effectively between different organisations. OHCHR staff expressed their interest in learning more about ECC’s upcoming ‘Memorial 2024’ project and capacity-building programmes in East Africa.
The delegation also met with Christina Wille, Director of Insecurity Insight, another CRN member. This meeting provided an important opportunity to share information about attacks on healthcare workers and infrastructure in Ukraine and develop a better understanding of the accuracy of publicly available information on these topics.
Documenting the dead to strengthen human rights and justice
On the final day of the delegation’s visit, ECC hosted a panel event on casualty recording in Ukraine. The Ambassador of Liechtenstein – a member of the states’ core group on casualty recording – gave the opening remarks. The event featured Lera and Oleksandr providing first-hand accounts of their work documenting the victims of the war in Ukraine. Their presentations were complemented by insights from Carrie Comer, who leads the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission’s Protection of Civilians Unit in Ukraine.
Oleksandr delivered the mission’s final message in a powerful statement to the Human Rights Council plenary, highlighting the growing toll on Ukraine’s children and youth – including targeted killings – during the High Commissioner’s report on civilian casualties.
Building a Global Coalition for Ukraine’s Victims
Documenting every victim of the war in Ukraine is painstaking work which will take years to complete, even after the conflict concludes. This joint advocacy visit by CRN members and ECC staff was a powerful opportunity to build support for these activities, ensuring global policy makers understand the value of these efforts and the resources required to undertake them.
Image: CRN visit to Geneva © ECC, 2025.
