Visiting Ukraine just weeks after the full-scale invasion in March 2022, GSF returned with a key question. Sexual violence dated back to the 2014 invasion of Crimea and was now being committed on a larger scale. How could we help survivors now, without waiting for the war to end?
This formed the basis of our pilot project, which was rolled out in 2024 to provide urgent interim reparative measures to survivors. In addition to financial compensation, they received referrals for psychosocial support various rehabilitation services. The process of survivor identification and verification was designed in coordination with experts and survivors, to avoid overly complex or re-traumatising interviews.
Our approach showed that it is possible to support survivors without waiting for an end to conflict. The pilot also helped inform the Bardina law, ratified by the Ukrainian president in December 2024. In 2025, the Ukrainian government decided it would match the compensation provided through the pilot in its future reparations programme mandated by the law, and said the pilot approach should be used as the foundation for the future state-owned programme.
Other results so far include:
- Financial compensation for 1,080 survivors and referrals to rehabilitation services;
- Acknowledging their status and rights as victims of human rights violations;
- Largest verified registry of conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine;
- A platform for survivor advocacy;
- Encouraging survivors to begin legal proceedings against perpetrators.
While we await implementation of the Bardina law, survivors have said the support and recognition provided under the pilot has brought meaningful change to their lives and allowed them to meet their most pressing needs, even during active conflict.
I am grateful that this project exists, first of all because it recognises pain… it is precisely this recognition, visibility, and the right to document the crime that makes it possible to heal human dignity, selfhood, and self-confidence.
Read our impact report to find out more.
Our project in Ukraine is carried out with the following partners: Office of the Deputy-Prime Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy, the Andreev Family Foundation, Blue Bird, Elleos Ukraine, Truth Hounds, LaStrada Ukraine and the Government Contact Centre.
The pilot was made possible with support from the Crisis and Support Centre (CDCS) of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France and the Directorate General for Development Cooperation of the Government of Belgium.