HiiL strongly condemns the armed attack of Russian forces on Ukraine, which is in flagrant violation of international law. As part of its justification, the Russian political leadership invokes an idea of justice that we at HiiL do not understand and which runs contrary to the work HiiL has done with many brave and innovative justice practitioners in Ukraine.
That work is people-centred, geared towards resolving concrete problems that people have. It protects fundamental rights and ensures that the government is accountable. With the Kharkiv Institute for Social Research HiiL collected data in 2016 about the justice needs of people from across Ukraine, including from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions but not from Crimea. Data shows that people from both sides had similar justice needs.
With the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights in 2020 HiiL collected data on the justice needs of SME’s. We worked with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry for Digital Transformation.
And since 2016, the HiiL Justice Accelerator has built a vibrant justice innovation ecosystem. It has also supported 15 people-centred justice innovations in Ukraine, which have helped people and SMEs with the means to resolve and prevent their most pressing justice problems.
This is the real justice work. Unstoppable. Collaborative. Concrete. HiiL’s efforts to support Ukraine’s justice practitioners and its people will continue because our shared goal is to build a strong and effective people-centred justice system.
