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16 December 2022, 15:04
The Chair of the Committee of Ukraine’s integration into the EU emphasised
this during the webinar ‘Summing up: the state of women, peace and
security 22 years after Resolution 1325’. Twenty-two years ago, the UN
reaffirmed the role of women in establishing peace and security with
Resolution 1325. This document is also known as ‘Women, Peace, Security’.
In it, the UN Security Council provided recommendations to both states and
international organisations regarding the involvement of women in the
resolution of military conflicts. After that, UN member states implemented
national measures to achieve the goals of this agenda.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze recalled that Ukraine was the first country in the world to adopt the National Action Plan ‘Women, Peace, Security’ during the war. Women, she said, are disproportionately more vulnerable in war. ‘Now we have millions of internally and externally displaced persons. 7 million mostly women and children were forced to leave the country. 11 million are internally displaced persons,’ said the Chair of the Committee.
At the same time, she emphasised that Ukrainian women are also fighting back the enemy: ‘20% of our armed forces are women. They serve on the front lines just like men. Many women survived the horrors of Russian captivity. Many remain in captivity, and we cannot get access to them even for international humanitarian organisations’.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze noted that women are now the backbone of humanitarian aid in Ukraine: ‘We have strong horizontal ties in society, public initiatives in which women play an outstanding role. Women do not just remain entrepreneurs in Ukraine, they have taken on the role of crisis managers who relocate their enterprises from more dangerous regions of the country to relatively safer ones. It helps our economy work. Also, women have taken on the roles of providers for their families while their husbands are defending the country. They play an important role in diplomacy. We have female ambassadors in the United States, Canada, other countries, and NATO. We have many female politicians and members of the parliament who took on the international front from the first days of the war, when men could not leave the country. They, together with representatives of civil society, became the voices of Ukraine in the international arena’.
The Chair of the Committee also informed the participants about the huge number of crimes of sexual violence committed by Russian occupiers against Ukrainian women. ‘Sexual violence, as a tool of war, is used by Russia on a huge scale in Ukraine. We have a special commission in the Parliament of Ukraine, which is examining recorded cases of sexual violence. It was committed not only against women, but also against men and children. The youngest victim of sexual violence is 4 years old. The oldest is 82. The scope of crimes is huge. More than 45,000 open criminal cases for various war crimes committed by the Russian occupiers in Ukraine. We need both internally in Ukraine and from our partners to make maximum efforts to ensure victory over this evil,’ said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze. According to her, the world should make every effort to defeat, weaken, isolate and punish Russia. And there is a lot of work here for both women and men. Women already play a big role in these processes. At the same time, according to the Chair of the Committee, Ukraine still lacks women in high positions with real influence on decision-making.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze is convinced that the international community should activate efforts to punish those guilty of all the terrible crimes committed by the occupiers in Ukraine. And the authorities of the Russian Federation should be punished for the crime of aggression. ‘A special tribunal should be created for this purpose. This tribunal should be established out of good will of world leaders to bring the Russian authorities and perpetrators to justice as soon as possible. It requires courage and political will, but it will help to end this war much earlier,’ concluded the Chair of the Committee.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze: ‘The Russian Federation must be punished for the crime of aggression’
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze recalled that Ukraine was the first country in the world to adopt the National Action Plan ‘Women, Peace, Security’ during the war. Women, she said, are disproportionately more vulnerable in war. ‘Now we have millions of internally and externally displaced persons. 7 million mostly women and children were forced to leave the country. 11 million are internally displaced persons,’ said the Chair of the Committee.
At the same time, she emphasised that Ukrainian women are also fighting back the enemy: ‘20% of our armed forces are women. They serve on the front lines just like men. Many women survived the horrors of Russian captivity. Many remain in captivity, and we cannot get access to them even for international humanitarian organisations’.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze noted that women are now the backbone of humanitarian aid in Ukraine: ‘We have strong horizontal ties in society, public initiatives in which women play an outstanding role. Women do not just remain entrepreneurs in Ukraine, they have taken on the role of crisis managers who relocate their enterprises from more dangerous regions of the country to relatively safer ones. It helps our economy work. Also, women have taken on the roles of providers for their families while their husbands are defending the country. They play an important role in diplomacy. We have female ambassadors in the United States, Canada, other countries, and NATO. We have many female politicians and members of the parliament who took on the international front from the first days of the war, when men could not leave the country. They, together with representatives of civil society, became the voices of Ukraine in the international arena’.
The Chair of the Committee also informed the participants about the huge number of crimes of sexual violence committed by Russian occupiers against Ukrainian women. ‘Sexual violence, as a tool of war, is used by Russia on a huge scale in Ukraine. We have a special commission in the Parliament of Ukraine, which is examining recorded cases of sexual violence. It was committed not only against women, but also against men and children. The youngest victim of sexual violence is 4 years old. The oldest is 82. The scope of crimes is huge. More than 45,000 open criminal cases for various war crimes committed by the Russian occupiers in Ukraine. We need both internally in Ukraine and from our partners to make maximum efforts to ensure victory over this evil,’ said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze. According to her, the world should make every effort to defeat, weaken, isolate and punish Russia. And there is a lot of work here for both women and men. Women already play a big role in these processes. At the same time, according to the Chair of the Committee, Ukraine still lacks women in high positions with real influence on decision-making.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze is convinced that the international community should activate efforts to punish those guilty of all the terrible crimes committed by the occupiers in Ukraine. And the authorities of the Russian Federation should be punished for the crime of aggression. ‘A special tribunal should be created for this purpose. This tribunal should be established out of good will of world leaders to bring the Russian authorities and perpetrators to justice as soon as possible. It requires courage and political will, but it will help to end this war much earlier,’ concluded the Chair of the Committee.