Statement of the delegation of Ukraine 

at the Opening of the Annual session of UN-Women Executive Board

18 June 2024, UNHQ

Madam President, Executive Director, distinguished colleagues,

I would like to take this opportunity to highlight that due to ongoing Russian war against my country, all Ukrainians, particularly women, children, and the elderly are still suffering from the lack of access to basic necessities, elevated risk of sexual and gender-based violence, and limited availability of social and legal services.

The UN has verified that Russia systematically uses sexual violence as a weapon against Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war, reaching levels of brutality that shock even seasoned experts. Testimonies from individuals released from Russian captivity reveal that 90% of detainees endured torture, rape, or other forms of sexual abuse. Egregious war crimes are being committed daily against Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories. Ukrainian prosecutors have documented 290 cases of CRSV (102 men, 188 women, including 15 minors). However, these figures likely only scratch the surface due to underreporting and limited access to occupied territories.

Madam President,

The mid-term review of the Strategic Plan, included in the ED’s Annual Report, highlights undeniable progress on gender equality and the thematic areas of intervention outlined in the UN-Women Strategic Plan. However, progress remains slow and uneven. In certain regions, we see serious setbacks in women’s human rights. This is deeply concerning, and unfortunately, we are not on track to achieve SDG 5 globally.

In this regard, we would like to hear more about the Secretary-General's recently launched acceleration plan on gender equality. We understand that this plan is a follow-up to the gender review performed as part of the Our Common Agenda. Therefore, as a Board member, we would like to hear more about this process.

I also thank the Executive Board and the Bureau for visiting Ukraine along with Moldova and Poland, with a field visit last month. We see this as an expression of support for Ukraine and its unwavering commitment to gender equality, women’s human rights, and LGBT rights as part of the Leave No One Behind process. We know that you experienced several air-alarms, but despite this, the delegation was able to witness firsthand the plight of internally displaced people from the frontline regions and hear heartbreaking stories of displaced families, witnesses and survivors of sexual violence and conflict-related atrocities. We look forward to the field visit report and further discussion on UN-Women's role in humanitarian response.

I would like to conclude by noting the discussions across the boards on the joint JIU assessment of the governance and oversight functions of the NY-based Executive Boards. We believe this is an extremely important discussion that we need to get right collectively, as it is a unique opportunity to address the shortcomings of the oversight and governance functions of the Boards. We believe we need to design a comprehensive and joint response across the three Executive Boards to address these issues.

I thank you.