The full-scale phase of Russian aggression against Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, caused an unprecedented deterioration of the humanitarian situation, large-scale destruction of civilian objects and massive violations of fundamental human rights. The path to justice and sustainable peace lies through the inevitable responsibility of the aggressor State, an integral component of which is compensation for the harm caused to the affected persons as an element of individual reparations. For this purpose, in May 2023, the Register of Damages Caused by the Aggression the Russian Federation Against Ukraine was created, which operates within the institutional framework of the Council of Europe. The register is going to be the first step towards the creation of a future International compensation mechanism. At the same time, the issue of compensation for damage to life and health caused during armed conflicts has repeatedly been the subject of the European Court of Human Rights consideration, and the relevant Court case-law and its established legal positions require thorough research in order to promote their effective application.

Therefore, the purpose of this article is to analyze the main approaches to assessing and determining the amount of damage caused to the life and health of persons in the situation of armed conflicts, defined in the practice of the ECtHR, and their significance for national judicial practice regarding compensation for damages caused by Russian aggression against Ukraine, with a view to ensuring the validity of national damage assessment tools in the context of current international jurisdictions and the future International compensation mechanism.

The issue of assessment and compensation for damage caused by violations of human rights enshrined in the ECHR and its protocols is decided by the ECtHR by application of Art. 41 of the Convention. While awarding just satisfaction to the injured party, the ECtHR does not formulate clear general approaches and principles for determining the monetary amount of such compensation. The European Court, justifying the award of the appropriate amount of compensation, proceeds from the principle of justice and takes into account, as a rule, the nature and severity of the detected violation, its duration and consequences, the number of violations, the measures taken by the defendant state and any other information or circumstances. General trends regarding fair compensation are inherent in each type and group of violations established by the European Court. Award of the ECtHR to compensation for material damage in connection with the statement about the death of close relatives and establishing a violation of Art. 2 of the Convention is not widespread, unlike the establishment of compensation for non-material damage and legal and other costs.

The relevant established case-law and legal positions of the ECtHR should become a reference point or a “source of inspiration” in the development of approaches to the assessment of damage caused and the determination of the amount of compensation by national courts and other authorities, which will contribute to increasing the importance of such an assessment for current international jurisdictions and the future International compensation mechanism.

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Journal articles

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