Reporting Violations of the Law of Armed Conflict

Ukraine War – Violations of the Law of Armed Conflict

Monitoring, Reporting and Assurance Project (UMRAP)

(A not-for-profit initiative)

Since Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, fighting has already caused thousands of civilian casualties and forced millions of Ukrainians to flee to neighbouring countries. Reports of violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) / Law of Armed Conflict are on the increase. Furthermore, as the number of international actors engaged in the conflict grows, and the intensity, geographical spread, and irregularity of warfare proliferates (factors that are likely to increase in the coming weeks), so will violations of IHL and crimes against humanity. It is therefore necessary to create robust and verifiable monitoring, warning and reporting processes for IHL violations. 

Therefore, the Ukraine Monitoring, Reporting and Assurance Project (UMRAP) aims to:

• Record and report the details of IHL / human rights violations; warning where possible and identifying the perpetrators of violations, so appropriate national and international responses can be taken. 
• Enhance the effectiveness of Ukrainian military responses by mitigating the risk of IHL abuses by national and international actors. 
• Minimise the risk of human rights / IHL violations against the civilian population in Ukraine.

UMRAP is united with Ukrainian civil-society, and reputable groups have been sensitised and welcome this initiative. 

UMRAP proposes to achieve these aims as follows:

Monitor, report, warn and identify potential perpetrators of violations of IHL using a robust and extensive network of contacts in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, combined with technology (ExInsight) that provides automated and instant collection, collation and analysis of project data and evidence, in multiple formats, with real-time status updates and predictive capabilities. This will allow UMRAP to share accurate, verified information and assessments with national and international bodies (such as the Metropolitan Police, UN OHCHR, the ICC and war crimes tribunals), while advocating for appropriate responses from the wider international community. 

“Every Ukrainian with a cell phone can document war crimes. Just the growth of outrage is going to lead to more and more and more punitive actions against Russia.”

 General David Patraeus, former Director of the CIA 

(Die Weltwoche) 

 A recent ground reconnaissance, conducted by members of the UMRAP team, combined with regular communications with Ukrainian contacts, has highlighted the challenges of implementing any new systems or approaches in areas where conflict is intense, frenetic, and highly threatening. While UMRAP maintains a willingness to support Ukrainians in the current conflict-affected oblasts (provinces), we respect that their priorities and needs may be different. Therefore, our initial focus is to establish the proposed systems in the areas that are likely to be on Russia’s future target list, where populations currently have more time and space, and are more receptive to proactive preparations.  

This includes, but not limited to, the oblasts of Zhytomir, Vinnytsia, Odessa, Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Volyn, Ternopil, Lviv, Ivano-Frankisvsk and Chernivtsi.     

The UMRAP team has significant experience in managing and supporting projects  in the most challenging conflict zones worldwide. Staffed by legal, defence / security, and information technology specialists, and supported by a strong team of eminent advisors, the UMRAP project can reach communities affected by the conflict in Ukraine, within 48 hours, through the wide dissemination of the ExInsight App. 

UMRAP is a not-for-profit initiative developed by OECD-based organisations (Marlow Strategy, ExInsight and Triton International). We look forward to your support to initiate this vitally important project. 

The ExInsight Platform - the technology behind the UMRAP initiative

ExInsight allows UMRAP to collect information remotely, and analyse it intuitively, in order to make effective decisions faster. ExInsight lets UMRAP quickly and easily establish an information network, allowing the project to learn about environment in which it is operating: 

• Gathering information remotely and with confidence 
• Measuring Key Performance Indicators 
• Ensuring Compliance & Quality Management 

ExInsight dramatically increases efficiency and reduces the resources required to gain understanding. This is achieved by speeding up the intelligence cycle and reducing the time between asking questions and getting answers. It is being used more generally to assist: 

• Operational Reporting & Oversight 
• Monitoring, Warning, Reporting and Evaluation 
• Situational Awareness 
• ESG Assessment & Reporting 

The ExInsight method:

• Define the information you need to know 
• Collect data remotely and from multiple sources 
• Collate your information automatically 
• Analyse intuitively with auto charting & graphs 
• Produce real time reports to share 

Built around the intelligence cycle, a proven method for developing raw data to support effective decision-making, ExInsight is designed to comply with enterprise information security requirements with additional scope to meet specific information security needs. ExInsight is a data processor and does not profit from access to data. 

 www.exinsight.com