Programme Specialist and Head of Sub Office, P3, FTA

Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

In Ukraine, UN Women is committed to delivering results across strategic priorities, exercising its triple mandate encompassing normative support, UN system coordination, and operational activities to mobilize urgent and sustained action to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. UN Women has long been actively supporting local priority areas in Ukraine from increased political participation to gender mainstreaming in public policy, and economic development. Since the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the war continues to cause civilian casualties and hardship, damage to infrastructure and productive assets, disruption to the economy, causing the largest displacement and refugee crisis in Europe since 1945, and one of the greatest modern challenges to the global and regional peace and security architecture.

Women and girls are the majority of those affected disproportionally by the ten-year war. They experience higher rates of poverty and displacement than men, worsening inequalities, many have lost their homes and jobs lack access to basic social services, and are facing protection concerns,[4] including gender-based violence[5], conflict-related sexual violence,[6] and human trafficking[7]. Among the 14.6 million needing humanitarian assistance, women and girls constitute the vast majority. Women make up 56% of the estimated 3.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine and constitute 93% of the 4.6 million people returning to Ukraine[i].

Despite the ongoing war, Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction provide