Challenges in Proving Genocide: Participation in the Discussion on Crimes against Humanity and Genocide in Ukraine
On September 23, 2025, within the framework of the IX Kharkiv International Legal Forum, a panel discussion entitled “Crimes against Humanity and Genocide: A Practical View on Certain Aspects of Russian Aggression in the Context of the Rome Statute Ratification” took place. The event was organized by the Institute of the Security Service of Ukraine of Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University.
The Head of the NGO LingvaLexa, Anna Vyshniakova, participated in the discussion. In her presentation “From Political Declarations to Legal Standards: The Challenge of Proving the Crime of Genocide in Ukraine,” she outlined the main difficulties associated with the transition from political qualifications to legally substantiated evidence of genocide.
Anna Vyshniakova emphasized that accountability for genocide is an exclusively legal process requiring strict adherence to international standards of proof. In genocide cases, the central element is the demonstration of special intent (dolus specialis) — the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such. This demands complex analytical work that goes beyond the mere collection of factual data and includes the determination of context and assessment of whether the targeted part of the group is substantial enough to affect the physical or biological survival of the entire group.
Anna also drew attention to the distinction between political statements and judicial proof of genocide: “Accountability for genocide lies exclusively within the legal sphere, where strict standards of evidence and qualification apply. Therefore, proving the elements of this crime is incomparably more difficult and time-consuming than its political recognition.” She stressed that even if establishing the elements of genocide proves impossible, this would not amount to failure, since international law does not recognize any hierarchy between war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The primary task of legal practitioners, she noted, is to ensure objectivity and adherence to the standards of justice.
Participants in the event also discussed a number of other key issues, including:
- the criminal-legal qualification of acts constituting crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine;
- improvement of procedural mechanisms for pre-trial investigations of such crimes;
- cooperation with international judicial institutions to ensure accountability and reparations;
- the role of the security and defense sectors in preventing crimes against humanity and genocide during the ongoing war.
The event served as an important platform for discussing the challenges faced by Ukraine’s justice system in documenting crimes against humanity and genocide. The central focus was on identifying effective mechanisms of legal accountability grounded in credible evidence, international standards, and the principle of justice.
The theses of Anna and other conference participants can be found at the link.
