Human rights organizations have been monitoring the impact of the war in Ukraine on women and children since the conflict began last February, and a new report sheds light on just how dire things have become as women and children continue to face enormous hardships amid the harsh reality of war.
The Rapid Gender Analysis report was recently launched by UN Women, a UN entity dedicated to gender equality globally, and CARE International, a humanitarian agency focused on ending global poverty for women and girls.
The report is based on recent surveys and interviews conducted in 19 regions of Ukraine.
According to the latest UN estimates, the number of Ukrainian refugees has reached 5.6 million, and there are 7.7 million displaced people, 90% of whom are women (Reuters)
The report is based on the best available measures to illustrate the scale of the growing humanitarian crisis, as the latest UN estimates indicate that the number of Ukrainian refugees is 5.6 million and the number of internally displaced people at 7.7 million, figures that are still rising, as mentioned by the Forbes platform, which cited the most important of the report. .
Given the fact that most men between the ages of 18 and 60 are required to remain inside Ukraine to defend their country under imposed martial law, it is estimated that around 90% of the displaced and refugees are women.
Men between 18-60 years old are required to remain inside Ukraine to defend it under martial law (French)
Finding a shelter
In addition to the suffering of leaving their homes and their countries, there are heightened safety risks as incidents of gender-based violence increase. One in five women surveyed indicated that finding safe shelter is a top priority for them, and often women and children who have been forced to flee seek shelter and shelters. Open, unlicensed and hastily built, many of them are densely populated and lack many of the basics necessary for life.
Members of the UN civil society unit CSOs reported poor hygiene, lack of basic supplies, and safety concerns in many of these shelters.
Women's civil society organizations reported the unsafe conditions that displaced women and girls face in western Ukraine with the lack of separate, dedicated and well-lit latrines "creating conditions that increase the risk of harassment and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls in public spaces".
Women and children forced to flee often take shelter in unlicensed, hastily built shelters (French)
Sexual violence, rape and human trafficking
In this context, the United Nations said that Ukrainian women and children are at increased risk of sexual violence, rape and trafficking, with increasing reports of such violations.
“The combination of mass displacement with the massive presence of recruits and mercenaries and the brutality against Ukrainian civilians has raised all red flags,” Sima Bohouth, Executive Director of UN Women told the Security Council.
"The risk of human trafficking is also increasing as people become more desperate to flee the war in Ukraine," said Buhouth, who had just returned from a mission to Moldova.
"Young women and adolescent girls are particularly at risk, and I call on all countries to increase their efforts to combat human trafficking, and I commend all host countries for their cooperation in the field of prevention," she said.
Sima Buhat speaks during the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in light of Russia's war on Ukraine (Reuters)
For her part, Katerina Cherepakha, head of the Ukrainian Civil Society Organization (La Strada - Ukraine), said that Russian soldiers "use violence and rape as weapons of war."
She said her organization "has reliable testimonies from about 12 women and girls who were raped in areas that were under Russian occupation."
"They were raped by a group of men several times, with their lives and the lives of their children and family members threatened, and sometimes attacks were carried out in front of the rest of the family," she added.
Many Ukrainian women found themselves working for free in many voluntary work imposed by the (European) war conditions.
no place for gypsies
For some members of the Ukrainian people, the presence of a shelter does not mean their acceptance in it, as the report indicates that many of these shelters refuse to accept Roma and people of color in them.
In this context, a Roma woman said in the report, "As soon as we arrived, we turned to the volunteers at the station and asked where the shelter was. They told us and we went, but we were rejected everywhere. We contacted several organizations that provide services in the city, and they told us at first that they would accept us." But when we said we were gypsies, they told us there was no longer a place.”
Access to health care services for women is another major area of concern. The report mentions issues such as the unavailability of appropriate menstrual products, the unavailability of food that meets the nutritional needs of pregnant and lactating women, as well as the scarcity of service providers and barriers to receiving maternal and newborn reproductive health care, which are Widespread problems experienced by Ukrainian refugee women.
People with physical disabilities or injuries that limit their ability to move remain especially vulnerable.
The report mentioned a Ukrainian story that was unable to flee because her mother was unable to move because of her injured leg, so she preferred to stay in the city, which is under constant attack and bombardment.
As the crisis continues to worsen across the country, the economic fallout is deteriorating as a survey cited in the report conducted between March 24 and April 1 this year found that 18% of displaced women reported a monthly household income of less than 5,000 UAH (equivalent to 165 US dollars) before the start of the war, and this income decreased by 65% after the war.
Displaced women reported a monthly family income of less than 5,000 UAH (equivalent to $165) before the war began, and a decrease of 65% (French)
women without work
Many women lost their jobs after the war, and became without income, and many of them found themselves working for free in many voluntary work imposed by the war conditions, with the increase in the number of hospitals, schools, child care centers and the elderly closed or collapsed, where women fill the gaps without pay.
"When it comes to the humanitarian needs of the displaced, the local population, and the distressed families, women do most of the work: they drive cars, supply hospitals and local residents with medicine and food, and care for their relatives and children who are disabled or bombed," the report quoted a Ukrainian woman as saying.
However, although women are playing a critical role in serving their communities during this crisis, their voices have largely gone unheard at the national level.
The report stated, "At the level of official decision-making, the centralization of power and the increase in the powers granted to the army have marginalized the role of women in exercising their rights or listening to their opinion in political and administrative decision-making processes", which led to a decrease in women's participation in general. appropriately reflecting the needs and priorities of different groups of women and men, including the most vulnerable and marginalized.