Ievgeniia Gubkina (UCL) - 2024-25 Students
i.gubkina@ucl.ac.uk

The Architecture of International Justice: Law and Immovable Heritage in Wartime Ukraine

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine unearthed critical gaps in international justice regarding heritage preservation in wartime. The hostilities, resulting in severe casualties and extensive heritage destruction, prompted a global call for justice yet revealed a systemic crisis in legal systems. My research aims to unravel the disregard of war within the heritage protection field and heritage destruction within International Criminal Tribunals domain, and how the categorization of architectural heritage across various disciplines leads to ambiguity impacting heritage safeguard and legal actions applied.
The research utilizes a multi-faceted approach, combining qualitative analysis, interdisciplinary investigations, review of institutional frameworks and historical contexts. The debates around the cases of former Yugoslavia, Mali and Syria have significantly contributed to the topic and formed a strong basis for further elaboration and implementation of changes to international heritage protection policies in the future. My research aims to showcase the inadequacy of legal tools and resources in substantiating the link between heritage destruction and war crimes, drawing from comparative experiences in similar contexts. Through critical analysis and comparison, I seek to articulate the challenges impeding practical implementation and create a comprehensive understanding of the institutional blind spots within heritage protection. The particular focus of my research is on ongoing war in Ukraine and such cities as Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa, Mariupol, as a primary example.

Integrating critical heritage studies, history, and international criminal law, my research will advance our understanding of how urbicide and the destruction of heritage are targeted in wartime and unevenly implicated in the process of retribution, transitional justice and material reconstruction.

Primary supervisor: Michal Murawski