Joint investigation with Anton Naumliuk and Ukrainska Pravda into how Russia turned occupied Crimea into a hub for the secret detention and torture of abducted Ukrainian civilians.

How did Russia turn Crimea into a hub for abducted Ukrainians?

Joint publication with Anton Naumliuk and Ukrainska Pravda on abductions of civilians in Crimea

Abductions in Crimea after the full-scale invasion Secret detention centres, Putin's classified decree and hundreds of names - published in partnership with Ukrainska Pravda 

We are happy to present the Ukrainian Archive Annual Report for 2022-2023. This report encapsulates our commitment to documenting and preserving open-source information related to human rights and humanitarian law violations during the armed conflict in Ukraine.
A Brief Overview: The Ukrainian Archive began as a Rapid Response Project and has since grown into a full-fledged program with multiple workstreams. Over the past year, we&#39;ve archived over 4 million digital records related to potential war crimes and human rights violations in Ukraine.
Key Achievements:
<ul>
<li>Infrastructure and Team Building: We established a dedicated team consisting of a Program Manager, Legal Advisor, Open-Source Investigators, Communications Officer, and more.</li>
<li>External Training: We provided capacity-building workshops to over 20 members of the Ukraine 5 AM Coalition and other Ukrainian partners.</li>
<li>Archiving and Verification: We archived over 4 million digital records and worked diligently on verifying, tagging, and analyzing these records.</li>
<li>Investigations and Reporting: We published four public-facing investigation reports, shedding light on attacks on various locations, including Izium City Central Hospital and St. Michael the Archangel Cathedral in Mariupol.</li>
<li>Cataloguing and Processing: We operationalized a custom version of Elfehrest, a media analysis platform, and created a tagging guide to index archived content.</li>
<li>Legal Accountability: We&#39;ve supported various accountability mechanisms, including providing information to investigating authorities and collaborating with EUROJUST and the Dialogue Group on Accountability for Ukraine.</li>
<li>Partnerships: We&#39;ve expanded our network, collaborating with organizations like Bellingcat, Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR).</li>
<li>Outreach and Press: Our program has been featured in prominent media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, France 24, and BBC.</li>
</ul>
Looking Ahead: Our vision is to evolve into a sustainable hub for collecting, preserving, and processing at-risk digital materials. We are dedicated to creating a digital memorial of the tragic events in Ukraine since February 24, 2022, and believe in the power of transitional justice. As we move forward, we aim to expand our partnerships and amplify our collective efforts for justice and peace.
Read the Full Report: For a comprehensive overview of our achievements, partnerships, and future directions, read the full report below:
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Ukrainian Archive Annual Report 2022-2023

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On May 12th, 2023, the Ukrainian Archive, in partnership with the Ukraine 5AM Coalition, hosted a roundtable discussion that brought together Ukrainian and international legal practitioners and human rights activists.The subject matter experts discussed and examined the main challenges, lessons learned and needs for effective documentation of international crimes and human rights violations for accountability purposes with the support of open-source investigations tools and methodologies.
Special attention during the sessions was devoted to detention in areas under Russian occupation &amp; International Humanitarian Law as well as conflict-related sexual violence and crimes against children. The speakers examined recently published reports such as <a href="https://www.dignity.dk/en/">Nine Circles of Hell: Places of Detention in Ukraine under the Russian occupation</a> (by DIGNITY &amp; European Prison Litigation Network) and <a href="https://publichealth.yale.edu/">Russia&#39;s systematic program for the re-education &amp; adoption of Ukraine&#39;s children</a> (A Conflict Observatory Report &amp; Yale School of Public Health – Humanitarian Research Lab).
The roundtable discussion concluded with an analysis of recent developments in Ukraine and the potential first steps toward transitional justice. The discussion concluded with an analysis of recent developments in Ukraine and the potential first steps toward transitional justice. 
For more information, please reach out to us at <a href="mailto:info@ukrainianarchive.org">info@ukrainianarchive.org</a>

Roundtable Discussion

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On 1 – 2 December 2022, the Ukrainian Archive delivered an interactive capacity-building workshop. The workshop provided an opportunity for participants to examine and analyze the open-source methodology used by <a href="https://www.mnemonic.org/en/about">Mnemonic</a> and <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/">Bellingcat</a> for investigations. The guidelines for <a href="https://www.eurojust.europa.eu/sites/default/files/assets/eurojust-icc-csos-guidelines.pdf">Documenting and Preserving Information on International Crimes</a>, the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/OHCHR_BerkeleyProtocol.pdf">Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations</a>, and how digital information can be used as evidence for legal accountability were discussed by subject matter experts. Speakers also examined the key elements of speech crimes in International Criminal Law. The workshop concluded with a discussion on the <a href="https://internationalspeechcrimes.org/hartford_guidelines.pdf">Hartford Guidelines on Speech Crimes in International Criminal Law</a>.
Legal practitioners, human rights activists, journalists, representatives of the state, and intergovernmental organizations attended the workshop and exchanged their expertise and good practices in the documentation of international crimes and human rights violations for accountability purposes. Ukrainian Archive seeks to support human rights defenders in their efforts to end impunity by helping the international community to preserve data as digital memory, establish searchable verified databases of human rights violations, and provide potential evidence to be used for legal case building.
For more information, please reach out to us at <a href="mailto:info@ukrainianarchive.org">info@ukrainianarchive.org</a>.

Blog

How did Russia turn Crimea into a hub for abducted Ukrainians?

Abductions in Crimea after the full-scale invasion Secret detention centres, Putin's classified decree and hundreds of names - published in partnership with Ukrainska Pravda

Ukrainian Archive Annual Report 2022-2023

Roundtable Discussion

Capacity-Building Workshop