Council of Europe Gears Up for Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025, Emphasizing Accountability and Reconstruction

Council of Europe Gears Up for Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025, Emphasizing Accountability and Reconstruction

Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset will participate in the URC2025, which is dedicated to the recovery, rebuilding, reform, modernization, and long-term reconstruction of Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war of aggression.

RMN News War Desk
July 10, 2025

Rome, Italy – The Council of Europe is set to play a significant role at the upcoming Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025 (URC2025 – July 10-11), co-hosted by Italy and Ukraine, signaling continued international commitment to Ukraine’s rebuilding and justice efforts. Following previous gatherings in Lugano, London, and Berlin, this high-level event will convene global political leaders, representatives of international organizations and financial institutions, private sector actors, local and regional authorities, civil society, and the Ukrainian diaspora.

Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset will participate in the URC2025, which is dedicated to the recovery, rebuilding, reform, modernization, and long-term reconstruction of Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war of aggression. The conference will be held at the Rome Convention Center « La Nuvola » and is open to accredited journalists.

Key themes for URC2025 include:

• Mobilizing the private sector for reconstruction and economic growth.
• Human dimension: social recovery and human capital for the future of Ukraine.
• Recovery of municipalities and regions.
• European Union (EU) accession and related reforms.

Secretary General Berset is scheduled to speak in a panel focused on “Strengthening Rule of Law Through Integrity and Enforcement Efforts”. The Council of Europe’s delegation will also feature other prominent figures, including Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty, members of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities led by President Marc Cools, and the Special Envoy of Secretary General on the situation of children of Ukraine, Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjord Gylfadóttir. The Council of Europe Development Bank, represented by Governor Carlo Monticelli, will also be present.

Council of Europe’s Broader Commitment to Ukraine

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Council of Europe has been actively mobilizing its instruments to ensure Russia’s full accountability for human rights violations and serious breaches of international law, as well as to secure compensation for victims.

A major step towards accountability was taken on June 25, 2025, when Ukraine and the Council of Europe signed a bilateral agreement to establish a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression. This legal mechanism aims to reinforce accountability where existing international courts currently lack jurisdiction over this specific crime, facilitating the prosecution of senior Russian officials for launching the war.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the legal arm of the Council of Europe, stands as the sole international court adjudicating human rights violations stemming from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The Court has processed multiple inter-State cases and numerous individual cases related to human rights violations in this context, with thousands still pending. The ECtHR, celebrating 75 years of bringing the principles of the European Convention on Human Rights to life, remains a cornerstone of accountability, reminding that the rule of law applies even in times of war.

Recently, the Court delivered a historic judgment in Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia, marking another significant step towards holding Russia accountable for its aggression, which began with the conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and escalated with the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. The Court unanimously found Russia accountable for widespread and flagrant abuses of human rights, including violations related to the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17. These violations were committed in “flagrant disregard for the foundations of the international legal order established after the Second World War,” upon which the Council of Europe is based.

Another critical initiative is the Register of Damage for Ukraine, a mechanism established by the Council of Europe to document and process claims related to losses from the invasion. As of June 2025, over 40,000 claims have been officially recorded, covering a range of devastating impacts from death and missing immediate family members to sexual violence and property destruction. The Register is designed as the crucial “first step toward a future international compensation mechanism,” which will eventually include the establishment of a Claims Commission.

The Council of Europe also places high priority on the protection of Ukrainian children. Secretary General Berset’s Special Envoy on the Situation of Children of Ukraine, Ms. Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörd Gylfadóttir, has underscored that “rebuilding Ukraine is meaningless without accountability for crimes committed against its children”. Furthermore, under its 2023–2026 Action Plan on “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction,” the Council of Europe is scaling up activities in 2025–2026 to support democratic reforms, judicial independence, and media freedom in Ukraine.