The Ukrainian delegation at the regular session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, held in New York, raised the issue of involving women in the reconstruction processes of the country. This was reported to Ukrinform by the deputy head of the delegation and government commissioner for gender policy, Kateryna Levchenko.
“We wanted to convey the importance of ensuring women’s participation in reconstruction processes. There can be no effective recovery that is not based on the principles of inclusion and gender equality,” she said. According to Levchenko, the delegation also drew attention to war-related sexual violence and presented a draft project on urgent interim reparations during the events of the session.
“One of our objectives was to keep Ukraine’s issues in the focus of UN Women and other structures involved in organizing this session,” the government commissioner added.
Levchenko noted that this year’s session focuses on economic issues in the context of gender policy. “We came to the understanding that without such basic concepts as economy and finance, it is difficult to talk about women’s participation in politics and decision-making processes, as well as about combating various forms of violence,” she explained, noting that women suffer more from violence in conditions of poverty.
“At the session, this issue was considered in the context of addressing the phenomenon of the feminization of poverty,” the official added.
She emphasized that women’s rights and gender equality are now “a cross-cutting issue in various policy areas, not just social policy,” and that “women’s rights must necessarily be taken into account in all policies.”
In addition to the official events during the session, members of the Ukrainian delegation held numerous bilateral meetings — not only with representatives of UN structures but also with heads of delegations from Denmark, Sweden, Chile, Liechtenstein, Paraguay, Australia, France, and Norway.
Levchenko explained that the Ukrainian official delegation included not only representatives of state bodies but also civil society organizations, including individuals affected by war-related violence.
Ukrinform reports that the 68th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women began on March 11 and will continue until March 22. This year’s priority theme is “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls through the elimination of poverty, strengthening of institutions, and gender-responsive financing.”
According to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the aim of the Ukrainian delegation’s participation in the session is “to reaffirm the priority of European integration, strengthen social justice and gender equality in Ukrainian society, and expand the rights and opportunities of women and girls in public life by overcoming poverty and strengthening institutions aimed at preventing gender-based violence.”