Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

On November 25, at the initiative of the United Nations, the world marks the International Day for the elimination of violence against women. This date was chosen in memory of the Mirabal sisters, political activists who were brutally assassinated in 1960 by order of the Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo. This date was chosen to draw the world's attention to violence against women and to intensify the fight against this brutal violation of human rights.

Violence against women and girls is, unfortunately, a widespread problem of human rights violation that has no borders and takes place around the globe. The World Health Organization estimates that one third of women and girls worldwide experience violence at some point in their live. But these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg, as this type of violence often goes unnoticed. The victims are scared to talk about it because of the social stigma and shame that surrounds it. As a result, criminals often go unpunished.

The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the problem and demonstrated that for many women, even their own home is not a safe place. According to the results of the study “The Impact of COVID-19 on Women's Rights in Ukraine”, provided by the Association of Women Lawyers of Ukraine “Yurfem”, more than 40% of women who reported domestic violence during the quarantine had no such experience before. But the worst thing is that almost 90% of such crimes in Ukraine do not reach law enforcement agencies. According to statistics from the Ministry of Justice, out of 1 million victims of domestic violence, only 100,000 people call the police. The rest just keep silent. They are silent because of fear and tolerance of violence in the society.

The European Commission has unveiled the most common myths about violence against women. Their debunking is important so that this phenomenon is not tolerated in society any more.

MYTH 1: Domestic violence is a private issue and we should not get involved. Domestic violence is a crime. It is against the law and thus it is not a private matter. If you commit a crime in your own home, it is still a crime for which you should be prosecuted. Silence around domestic violence enables it to continue. Everyone, women included, has the right to be safe and free from fear everywhere, including at home. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that for some women, home is far from being a safe place.

MYTH 2: Addressing gender-based violence means imposing ideas and values onto other cultures. Violence is not a legitimate part of any culture. Gender-based violence exists in every country, culture or community and governments around the world have outlawed most acts of gender-based violence. Gender-based violence cannot be allowed to continue. It is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in the world today. Women are being harassed, raped, mutilated, beaten and even murdered. This must end.

MYTH 3: There would be fewer rapes if women refrained from risky behaviours (for example, revealing clothing, being drunk…). The victim’s behaviour can never be taken as a sign of consent to sexual activity. This victim blaming discourse perpetuates the idea that rape can be justified: 27% of EU citizens say non-consensual sex could be justifiable in certain situations. This shifts the blame to the victim/survivor, while the fact is that the only person responsible for rape is the perpetrator.

One of the most widespread and effective international instruments in the field of women's rights protection is the Istanbul Convention, an international agreement of the Council of Europe on violence against women and domestic violence, opened for signature on 11 May 2011 in Istanbul.
The document is important not only because it officially recognizes violence against women as both a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination, but it also covers a number of measures to prevent and combat violence, protect the victims, prosecute and punish perpetrators. The Convention provides specific tools, strategies for combating and preventing violence against women, methods of protection and support for victims. Ukraine signed the Istanbul Convention in 2011, but has not yet ratified it. In 2016, President Petro Poroshenko submitted a draft law to the Verkhovna Rada aimed to ratify the Convention, but it was not approved by the Parliament and sent for revision. In February this year, a petition appeared on the website of the President of Ukraine demanding ratification of the Istanbul Convention. By May, the petition had received the required 25,000 votes to be considered. President Volodymyr Zelensky promised to submit a similar draft law to the Parliament, but hasn’t done it yet. The main stumbling block for the adoption of the Convention in Ukraine is the concepts of «gender» and «gender identity» definitions in the text of the document. Opponents of the Convention argue that these terms in the legal field may be the basis for substituting the concept of «biological sex». Human rights activists insist that «gender» in the text of the Convention refers to social roles, in particular the fact that a woman is often a victim of violence precisely because she is a woman. Ukraine has been repeatedly called upon to ratify the Istanbul Convention by the European Union and the Council of Europe. Experts from Amnesty International also speak about the need to adopt the document.

On the International Day for the elimination of violence against women, the Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the EU joins the EU initiative #SayNoStopVAW, which aims to talk about violence against women, debunk the myths surrounding it and help eradicate this human rights violation from the society. The symbols of the fight against this kind of violence are white ribbon and orange. The European Commission, European External Action Service and the Council of the EU will be lighting up its buildings in Brussels, in orange on the eve of Wednesday 25 November to show its support for combatting violence against women.