At June, 24 expert of Association Olesia Tsybulko took active participation in OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting “Tolerance and Non-Discrimination and Gender Equality” held in Vienna. Expert Tsybulko reported at Meeting’s Session I about current challenges for non-discrimination and gender equality, that resulted from ongoing Russian aggression and that are total at Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine.
Expert reminded that after 2020 our Association permanently informed OSCE and UN structures about gender discrimination in Russia-occupied Crimea. We informed UN rapporteurs in October 2021 that criminal groups, involved in the sexual abuse and trafficking in Crimea, are closely connected to Russia’s special services and to the so-called “Crimean republican authorities”.
Expert stressed that after 2022 Russia-controlled troops and mercenaries committed in Ukraine, during this aggressive operation, gross violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights’ law already, including broad crimes against women.
Millions of Ukrainians, including women and children, who are extremely vulnerable in conditions of the interstate conflict, lost their houses and safe access to medical and social services due to Russian aggression and related hostilities. In Russia-occupied territories women are vulnerable targets of rape, enforced disappearances, tortures and degrading threatment.
Olesia Tsybulko stressed that women lost in Russia-controlled zone their property, works and assets, social payments and family connections. It generated high level risks for growth of prostitition, including trafficking, minors’ prostitution and deseases’ dissemination.
This approach is accompanied by the attitude of the occupiers, Russian colonizers and collaborators to Ukrainian dislaced women and children as “third-class people” because of “their long residence in Ukraine”.
Olesia Tsybulko added that in the Russia-occupied Crimea more than 400 women were “fined” during last two years for alleged “discreditation of Russian army”.
Also since autumn, 2023, so-called “Crimean republican authorities” make strong and public pressure on clinics in region to ban or minimise the quantity of abortions, just due to politic reasons, in modern situation of Kremlin’s cannon fodder accumulation. Such steps, that have nether health grounds, nor even social grounds, but that are exactly propaganda issues, created new challenged for women’s health in the region.
Also absence of rules and orders at Russia-occupied territories, especially in Ukraine’s southerns mainland, create strong challenges for women in areas of home violence and access to medicine.
Expert added that our Association is ready for next co-operation on above-pointed issues with international structures, including relevant OSCE bodies, UN special rapporteurs and International Criminal Court.
