Denis Monastyrsky: “Police mobile groups in every deoccupied settlement reveal sexual violence committed in conditions of war”
Today, November 10, a regular meeting of the Commission on Coordination of the Cooperation of Executive Authorities to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women and men took place in Kyiv under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishina.
The topic of discussion among its participants — government officials, members of the Commission, representatives of international and non-governmental organizations, to which the wife of the President of Ukraine Olena Zelenska joined, was the fight against any manifestations of violence, assistance to the victims.
Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishina stated that the Ukrainian state, even in a state of full-scale war, did not stop the path of changes and transformations related to challenges in the sphere of gender equality, domestic violence and conflict-related violence. Ukraine's ratification of the Istanbul Convention has become one of the key principles for the success of this targeted policy. Currently, after the recent adoption of the relevant law by the President, implementation measures are being developed on time.
“We, as a commission and a government team, are focused on helping and supporting people who are not yet ready to go to law enforcement as victims. But they already need both medical and psychological care, attention of social services and workers of rescue centers,” the chairwoman of the event noted.
And Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, noted that the enemy is now massively and systematically using sexual violence as a tool to intimidate the Ukrainian population and a kind of compensation for the lack of significant successes on the battlefield. Therefore, new approaches to the investigation of such crimes will be formed in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denis Monastyrsky informed that when there is a de-occupation of settlements, police officers enter this territory after the military. And their main working tool is the yard and apartment bypass. Thus, it is possible to detect a significant part of war crimes. The National Police alone registered more than 42 thousand proceedings. Also, about 150 thousand Russian servicemen have already been identified, who were on the territory of Ukraine with weapons in their hands. The next task is to reach the level of suspicion and court sentences.
“The detection of sexual violence is a relatively new area for us, because so far such categories of crimes have not been committed so massively and so violently in our country. Therefore, new units are created in each law enforcement agency — as part of the specialization process. We are talking about already formed special police mobile groups that work in every de-occupied settlement and detect, in particular, sexual crimes committed by Russian military forces. This is an effective tool,” said the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
Another tool of such specialization, according to Denis Monastyrsky, is training trainings for police officers on identifying victims and working with them. This work continues and is being updated, as with the de-occupation of new territories, the need for a new number of such trained specialists increases.
“And in order to prevent re-victimization, which is still happening, it is necessary to coordinate with the Ministry of Social Policy, the Office of the Prosecutor General, so that, indeed, when it turns out that the victim is affected, professional psychologists and social services can work with her immediately on the spot. Such coordination of forces and means will help identify and identify criminals, help those affected.”
Department of Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
