Kateryna Pavlichenko spoke at the meeting of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Today, during the 83rd meeting of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Kateryna Pavlichenko in online format told experts about the investigation of crimes related to sexual violence during the Russian military aggression in Ukraine.
“Today, the activities of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine are aimed at documenting all war crimes committed by the Russian Federation. Among them are sexual crimes against civilians. 43 criminal proceedings have already been opened, among them are those that have repeated episodes or multiple victims. Understanding all the challenges, the National Police created specialized police mobile teams to detect only cases of sexual violence in de-occupied territories. Thanks to their work, we managed to collect a lot of testimonies and testimonies about such crimes,” said Kateryna Pavlichenko.
She also said that the largest number of them was committed in the territory of Kyiv, Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Chernihiv regions.
The Deputy Minister stressed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine is well aware that this is not yet a final list, and investigations are ongoing. Such investigations have their own specifics, which is due to the fact that often people do not want to talk about this type of crime.
“Understanding this, we have prepared information leaflets that police give to civilians in de-occupied territories that could potentially be affected by sexual crimes by Russian occupiers. The booklet contains all the necessary information: how to report, where to report, how to communicate with the injured person, etc.,” added Kateryna Pavlichenko.
Note that the brochure was developed on the initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs together with the NPU, the OGP, the National Social Service, the Ministry of Justice and public organizations. In addition, Ukraine additionally trains police, investigators, prosecutors on how to detect and investigate these crimes related to sexual violence during the war
For reference: The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women is a body of independent experts that monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. It consists of 23 women's rights experts from around the world. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is a tool that helps women around the world make changes in their daily lives. In the countries that have ratified this agreement, CEDAW has proven to be important in confronting the effects of discrimination, which include violence, poverty and lack of legal protection, as well as denial of inheritance, property rights and access to credit.
Department of Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
