On June 26, a roundtable discussion titled “The IHL Progressive Development Platform’s Activity in Identifying Gaps and the Modernization of International Humanitarian Law” was held in Odesa at the “Territory of Memory” Genocide Museum. The event was organized in cooperation with the Ukrainian Association of International Law, the Foundation for the Support of Fundamental Research, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The roundtable was the latest event in the framework of the International Platform for the Progressive Development of International Humanitarian Law (hereinafter “the Platform”), launched in 2025 at the initiative of Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha.
Currently, the Platform brings together approximately 100 participants, including leading national and international experts in the field of international humanitarian law, representatives of international, non-governmental, and human rights organizations, as well as members of the academic community and government institutions.
During the roundtable, participants discussed the Platform’s achievements and the prospects for its future work, aimed at improving existing norms of international humanitarian law, taking into account Ukraine’s unique experience gained amid Russia’s armed aggression.
The co-chairs of the Platform’s working groups—established to examine gaps in international humanitarian law in the humanitarian, environmental, and institutional dimensions—presented the results of their work and outlined directions for future activities, including advocacy initiatives in 2026. Among other things, they emphasized the importance of completing the phase of establishing the Platform’s organizational structure and moving on to substantive work on drafting specific proposals for the progressive development of international humanitarian law.
The event was attended by representatives of the Department of International Law and International Legal Countermeasures Against Aggression of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office of the Prosecutor General, and the Ukrainian Red Cross Society. A report by the International Committee of the Red Cross on the implementation of the Global Initiative to Strengthen Political Support for International Humanitarian Law, in which Ukraine is actively participating, was also presented.
Following the election of Ukrainian MP Olena Khomenko as the rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the modernization of international humanitarian law, the meeting participants agreed to leverage the Platform’s expertise in drafting recommendations as part of the work on the relevant report and the PACE draft resolution.
The Platform’s future activities will help strengthen the leading role of Ukrainian experts, practitioners, and scholars in the progressive development of international humanitarian law, and will also serve as a foundation for leveraging Ukraine’s experience—gained amid the largest international armed conflict of our time—to improve the norms of international humanitarian law at the global level.