On 16 December 2025, in The Hague, the diplomatic conference organised by the Council of Europe and the Netherlands adopted and opened for signature the Convention establishing an International Claims Commission for Ukraine, CETS No. 229. The authentic texts are English, French and Spanish, in a single copy deposited in the archives of the Council of Europe. The depositary is the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. No reservations may be made.

Article 2 establishes the Commission as an independent body within the institutional framework of the Council of Europe. Article 3 defines it as an administrative body that reviews, assesses and decides claims for compensation of damage, loss or injury caused by internationally wrongful acts of the Russian Federation in or against Ukraine, including aggression in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, on or after 24 February 2022, in the internationally recognised territory of Ukraine, in its exclusive economic zone and on its continental shelf, or to aircraft and vessels under Ukrainian jurisdiction, in favour of natural and legal persons, the State of Ukraine, local authorities and state-owned or controlled entities. The Commission works on the basis that the Russian Federation is responsible for such damage. Decisions, including on amounts, are final.

Article 4 recognizes international legal personality. Article 5 places the seat in the territory of one of the Parties, by a host-State agreement, and provides for an office in Ukraine. The Assembly, the Council, the Financial Committee, Panels of Commissioners, the Secretariat and the Executive Director, elected by the Assembly and appointed by the Secretary General, form the structure. The Council has between nine and fifteen members. Commissioners are independent experts. Panels recommend; the Council adopts or remits the recommendations. Article 19 requires that there be no double compensation for the same damage.

Articles 24 and 25 provide for the transfer of the work of the Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, created by Resolution CM/Res(2023)3 of 12 May 2023, including the digital platform, so that the Commission becomes its legal successor. The Convention is the second component of the compensation mechanism; a future payment fund remains a third component, outside this text.

Article 28 allows the Russian Federation to accede only with a declaration accepting responsibility, agreeing to honour the decisions and to reimburse costs. Article 30 opens signature to member States of the Council of Europe, other States and the European Union that participated in the conference, and States that voted in favour of General Assembly resolution ES-11/5 of 14 November 2022. The Convention shall enter into force on the first day of the month following three months after both of two conditions are met: twenty-five instruments of consent and aggregate contributions of those signatories of at least half of the Register budget for 2025, that is 3,692,150 euros. Those conditions have not yet been met. Article 34 prohibits reservations. Article 35 provides for denunciation taking effect after twelve months, or ten years if the denouncing Member is the Russian Federation. Article 36 keeps the Convention in force for at least ten years from entry into force.

It is not the Register of Damage itself, established in 2023. It is not a compensation fund, and not the European Convention on Human Rights.

Image: World Forum, The Hague; Michiel1972, 12 September 2010; CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Convention establishing an International Claims Commission for Ukraine. Treaty text: Convention establishing an International Claims Commission for Ukraine, The Hague, 16 December 2025.