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Mister President, Executive Director, distinguished colleagues,

First allow me to extend our sincere gratitude for conducting the Field visit to Ukraine and Moldova as well as Poland in May this year and for the presentation of the relevant Report. No doubt the offered conclusions and recommendations provide valuable insight into the current state of women’s inclusion and participation in various areas of focus as well as highlight the spheres requiring additional attention. 

We are pleased to notice the growth of women’s role in Ukraine’s economic recovery and the increase of women-led organizations, with half of all business ventures being led by a woman. We stay fully committed to advancing women’s economic empowerment, political participation, leadership in the humanitarian response to the war as well as within the context of a gender-responsive recovery.

Mister President,

It is important to highlight that the issues identified in the report are intensified by Russia’s continuous, brutal full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine. Russia’s systematic air and terrestrial attacks against our civilians give rise to the worsening of living conditions and deprivation of basic necessities, impair the availability of legal and social aid, and cause serious physical and mental harm to the population. Ukrainian women and girls are documented to be the prime targets of sexual and gender-based assaults committed by Russian soldiers, with the latest report from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights listing about 263 confirmed cases of conflict-related sexual violence. These figures are likely to be much higher, as we cannot access the data from the temporarily occupied territories.

It is crucial to clearly outline the effects on Ukrainian women’s lives that stem from the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. In view of this standpoint, we are content with your mention of this context in the report as it calls spade as spade. 

Mister President,

UN Women Executive Board delegation made several site visits to Bucha and Borodyanka – places that suffered the worst that the Russian occupation has to offer, specifically when we look back at what happened to women and children. During the recent attack on Lviv, Russia has killed a whole family, notably a 21-year-old Yaryna Bazylevych – a prominent and resilient young woman, committed to making positive contributions to the country’s welfare beneficial to women and girls across Ukraine. She was that leader that UN-Women strive to engage in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide. So were her mother and two of her younger sisters. All were killed in one night because of Russia’s murderous aggression against Ukraine. 

Ukrainians experience such cases almost daily for nearly three years. If international community does not act resolutely now to stop the aggressor, it will be complicit in allowing these atrocities to continue, endangering future generations and eroding the principles of justice and humanity.

Until then, allow me to emphasize that Ukraine is committed to safeguarding women’s human rights from all types of gender-based violence, especially in the context of armed conflicts. We look forward to cooperating with the UN-Women and other international partners in this direction.

Thank you.