Tetiana Kovalchuk held a working meeting with the OSCE delegation
Today, October 3, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Tetiana Kovalchuk held a working meeting with the OSCE delegation headed by the OSCE Special Representative of the Acting Head for Gender Affairs Ambassador Melanie Vervir.
The meeting was devoted to discussing the gender policy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the best world practices for combating domestic violence and introducing the gender perspective in the security sector.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Kateryna Pavlichenko, Adviser to the Minister on Gender Issues Viktoriia Arnautova and Head of the Gender Equality Department Olga Perunova.
“Stable peace and security during military conflict depend on fully preventing, recognizing and responding to domestic violence, as well as ensuring wider access for women to recovery and peacemaking processes. Therefore, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, taking care of the safety of Ukrainians, has intensified the gender component of its policy, in particular, expanding the work of the mobile group on domestic violence response “Polina”, which has been operating in 27 cities of Ukraine since September 17,” Tetiana Kovalchuk said.
In turn, Melanie Vervir noted the achievements in the ongoing transformation processes in the Ukrainian law enforcement sector: “The fight against domestic violence is a policy that is primarily aimed at protecting the family and eradicating any manifestations of violence, and therefore it is an integral guarantee of public security. It is impossible not to notice the progressive changes and positive results in the security sector in ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men, combating and preventing domestic violence.”
In addition, there was a discussion of the achievements of the Ukrainian Association of Law Enforcement Representatives, which recently became an affiliate member of the International Association of Women Police Officers.
“In September of this year, together with members of the Ukrainian Association of Law Enforcement Representatives, I attended one of the largest international professional events in the law enforcement sector - the IAWP conference “Mentoring for a New Generation” in Anchorage.
Representatives of the association had the opportunity to participate in discussions on issues of gender equality, mentoring, women's leadership, as well as gain experience from international colleagues on innovative approaches in police work, effective interaction with the community, negotiation practices, combating trafficking in human beings, preventing domestic violence” — noted Deputy Minister Ekaterina Pavlichenko.
We are extremely grateful to our partners for their cooperation and assistance in achieving such important goals for us. We highly appreciate the support of the OSCE Project Coordinator, which allows us to successfully implement gender policy in the activities of the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Photo by Andriy Novitsky
