This November, the Ukrainian Bar Association and UBA Human Rights Institute will host two landmark events in Toronto during the IBA Annual Conference:

November 3 — Open Ukraine: Justice AND Peace (only for IBA delegate breakfast). Focused on transitional justice, accountability, post-war reconciliation, and the role of the global legal community in rebuilding institutions and protecting war-affected populations.

November 4 — Justice Under Fire:  The Legal Profession’s Role in Ukraine’s Response to Aggression (public event). Gathering Canadian and Ukrainian legal professionals, policymakers, academia, civil society, and donors to discuss the challenges of practicing law during aggression, protecting women, children, and displaced persons, and shaping Canada’s long-term support for Ukraine.

REGISTRATION

• Tuesday, 4 November 2025, 17.30 – 21.00 local time
• Toronto, venue tbc

Event Concept

As Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine continues, lawyers are playing a critical role in upholding the rule of law, defending human rights, and documenting international crimes — often under direct threat.

This roundtable brings together Ukrainian and Canadian legal professionals, justice sector stakeholders, and donors to discuss the current challenges of the legal profession in Ukraine and explore how international partnerships — especially within Canada — can strengthen accountability, protect democratic institutions, and reinforce the profession itself.

Target Audience

• Canadian legal professionals: law societies, bar associations, private firms, legal clinics.
• Ukrainian-Canadian legal professionals and diaspora organizations interested in contributing legal expertise, advocacy, and long-term engagement.
• Public institutions, ministries, parliamentarians, and justice sector officials.
• Civil society organizations and foundations working in human rights, justice reform, and international cooperation.
• Representatives of the media, academia, and donor community focused on Ukraine’s democratic recovery.

Programme Focus Areas

1. Legal Frontlines: What Lawyers in Ukraine Are Facing Today

Ukrainian legal professionals continue their work amid missile attacks, occupation, and a justice system under strain. What does it mean to be a lawyer during a war — and how can international solidarity help?

Includes findings from UBA’s 2024 survey on violations of lawyers’ professional rights.

2. Justice for the Most Vulnerable: Women, Children, and Prisoners of War

From sexual violence to mass deportations — Ukrainian civilians, especially women and children, face deep legal and humanitarian risks. How can protection frameworks be improved and enforced?

3. Business and the Law: Supporting Ukraine’s Economic Resilience

Ukrainian companies continue to operate under fire, but face complex legal barriers abroad — trade access, contract enforcement, insurance. What legal tools do they need?

4. The Path Forward: Legal Reform and International Support

What are Ukraine’s priority legal reforms and justice sector needs in the coming years? What role can Canada and its legal institutions play — not just now, but in the long term?

DRAFT AGENDA 

17:30 – 18.00. Registration and coffee break

18:00 – 18.10. 

Opening remarks

Mykola Stetsenko, President of the Ukrainian Bar Association

Alexandra Chyczij, President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress

18:10 – 18.40. Key note speech  

Geopolitical challenges to the rule of law and human rights in view of the Russian war against Ukraine, resurgence of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes in the world, implications for international law, and the stability of the rules-based international order.

Prof. Michael Byers, University of British Columbia, Co-Director of the Outer Space Institute

Moderator: tbc

Questions and answers

18:40 – 19.20. Legal Profession in the Context of the War in Ukraine (UBA survey, main challenges, defense attorneys as collaborators, reform of the bar, accountability for international crimes)

Mykola Stetsenko, President of the Ukrainian Bar Association

Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the IBA, member of the Supervisory Board of UBA’s Human Rights Institute

Andriy Kostin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Prosecutor General of Ukraine (2022 - 2024) 

Jennifer Trahan, Professor at NYU's Center for Global Affairs, Convenor of the Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression

Moderator: Stéphane Siohan, journalist, author, and documentary producer

Questions and answers

19:20 – 20.00. The impact of the war on civilians, children and women: gaps in legal protection mechanisms 

Andrii Ovsiienko, Representative of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights for the Judiciary System

Alisa Kovalenko, Ukrainian filmmaker and a servicewoman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Inna Liniova, Director of the Human Rights Institute of the Ukrainian Bar Association

Moderator: Darcia Senft, Director of Policy and Ethics at The Law Society of Manitoba

Questions and answers

20:00 – 21.00. Reception and special address

Prof. Marci Shore, Chair in European Intellectual History, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Learning lessons of the WWII: responsibility of the international community to act.

Contact person: Inna Liniova, Director, UBA’s Human Rights Institute
iliniova@uba.ua, +380 95 471 1556, +1(612) 283-3073