WFUWO Journal UN SPECIAL EDITION V9 WFUWO Journal
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UKRAINIAN WOMAN IN THE WORLD Special Issue on WFUWO at the United Nations DECEMBER 2014 UKRAINIAN WOMEN IN THE WORLD OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF WFUWO UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL ISSUE 2014 1 ... A Word from the WFUWO President, Orysia Sushko 4 ... Martha Kichorowska Kebalo and Irene Jarosewich - WFUWO’s NGO Representation at UN Headquarters in New York 11 ... Oleksandra Kunovska Mondoux - WFUWO’s NGO Representation at the UN in Geneva 13 ... Martha Kichorowska Kebalo - Watching out for Ukraine 14 ... Oleksandra Kunovska Mondoux - Women and Media 19 .... Martha Kichorowska Kebalo - Looking Ahead: 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence 20 ... WFUWO Statement to the 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women 22... Nadia Shmigel - WFUWO and the UN NGO Committee on the Family-New York 25 ... Tamara Parubchenko - WFUWO and the UN NGO Committee on UNICEF 27 ... Larysa Dyrszka - Advocacy for Children’s Rights in Ukraine 29 ... Natalia Sonevytsky - WFUWO and the UN Department of Public Information 30 ... Nadiya Danylyshyn - Experiencing the 65th Annual UNDPI NGO Conference 34 ... Moki Kokoris - WFUWO’s Workshop on “Social Media, Surveillance and Information Wars” 36 ... Martha Kichorowska Kebalo - Keeping Crimea in the Ukrainian Narrative 37 ... Ayla Bakkalli - Crimean Tatars at the UN World Conference of Indigenous Peoples 40 ... Sofika Zielyk - Friends of WFUWO, Then and Now: the New Social Media 42 ... Viktoriia Brezheniuk - Ukraine’s New Youth Delegates to the United Nations Program 44 ... WFUWO Executive - WFUWO and the Blue Heart Campaign Published by the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations UN SPECIAL EDITION GUEST EDITOR: Martha Kichorowska Kebalo Editing and Formatting by Oksana Sushko Front cover: Postcard from Beijng - 1995 Back cover: “Blue Heart” by Helen Zoe Tate WORLD FEDERATION OF UKRAINIAN WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS 2118A Bloor Street West, Suite 205, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6S 1M8 Tel (416) 546-2491 [email protected] www.wfuwo.org A WORD FROM THE WFUWO PRESIDENT Dear reader of this Special UN Issue of Ukrainian Woman in the World, The WFUWO unites Ukrainian women’s organizations across the Ukrainian diaspora and encourages a conversation among them about our pri- orities as Ukrainians and as women. Es- sential to our mission, since the founding of WFUWO in 1948, is our participation as Ukrainian women in the world women’s movement and the de- fense of women’s rights within our own Ukrainian communities throughout the world. As the Vice President of the Ukrainian World Congress (founded in 1967), the president of the WFUWO brings these priorities to discussions at Orysia (Irene) Sushko, President of the highest levels of the diaspora. WFUWO, flanked by Dr. Martha Kichorowska Kebalo, Main Represen- This is a time to contemplate many an- tative to UN/ECOSOC in New York and niversaries. The Ukrainian women’s Mrs. Oleksandra Kunovska Mondoux, Main Representative to UN/Geneva, at movement, born in 1884 with the femi- the WFUWO Annual Meeting in Paris nist activism of Natalia Kobrynska, has in July 2014. Orysia Sushko, C.M. was reached its 130th year. Recently, I had recently named one of this year’s Top the pleasure of attending (and the 25 Women of Influence ™ by Women honor of addressing) a conference of Influence, Inc., North America’s commemorating the 80th anniversary leading organization dedicated to the of the first Ukrainian Women’s Con- advancement of women. gress of 1934, held in Ivano-Frankivsk (formerly, Stanyslaviv) in Ukraine. There are also several milestones of Also, in November of 2013, our World the world women’s movement that are Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Or- on our agenda. The WFUWO partici- ganizations crossed its 65th year mark pated in each of the four World in our seventh decade of activism for Women’s Conferences launched by the the preservation of Ukrainian identity, UN Decade for Women. Currently we for Ukrainian independence, and for are following the UN WOMEN- the full equality of all women who re- launched Beijing plus 20 campaign and side in or identify with Ukraine. the upcoming reviews of the imple- UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL ISSUE 2014 1 mentation of the Beijing declaration sion to the United Nations, marked and platform for women’s rights and the 200th anniversary of the birth of gender equality. The WFUWO also Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861), participated in the efforts marking the Ukraine’s most beloved national poet, 20th Anniversary of the UN declared champion of the Ukrainian language, International Year of the Family this self-determination of peoples, human year, with full recognition of the im- rights and social justice. The portance of the domestic sphere as WFUWO marvels at Shevchenko’s foundational to gender equality and deep understanding of the national human rights. And the WFUWO subordination and tremendous empa- joined the effort to raise awareness of thy for the personal exploitation expe- July 31, 2014 as the first UN World rienced by women within colonialism, Day against Human Trafficking, being and the consonance of his philosophy a longtime partner in the UN ODC’s with the Charter of the United Na- “Blue Heart” Campaign. tions that would break ground for human rights in the next century. Ukraine has also made international headlines this year. Ukrainian protes- As Ukrainians mourn the casualties of tors flooded Kyiv’s Maidan square in armed conflict and struggle to help those November 2013, when the people’s displaced by violence, Putin threatens to choice to strengthen ties with Europe destabilize not only the Ukrainian state was betrayed by a corrupt, Russia- but also the entire international order of leaning government. In March 2014, post-WWII Europe. Ukraine needs to re- Russian President Putin’s backlash pulse the aggression while appealing to began with the occupation and annexa- the enforcement of rules of international tion of Crimea followed by the full order, and needs assistance in re-estab- military invasion of eastern Ukraine. lishing and maintaining a just peace in We were gratified that most of the this volatile situation. We mourn our Member States of the United Nations fallen heroes, and the losses have supported Ukraine with a vote on touched our inner circle—Markian March 27 2014 rejecting the Russia- Paslawsky, “Franko,” who died on Au- orchestrated referendum, refusing to gust 19, 2014, at the eastern Ukrainian recognize the annexation of Crimea to front near Donetsk, is the cousin of our this day. UN WFUWO representative Dr. Larysa Dyrszka. We also express our solidarity March 27 was an important day at the with mothers of all of the troops from all United Nations for Ukrainians for sides involved in the conflict and with also another reason. On the occasion Ukraine’s women, not least the women of International Mother Language of the Crimean Tatar community, who Day, the Ukrainian community, to- are being affected in a myriad of ways gether with Ukraine’s Permanent Mis- as of yet untold. 2 UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL ISSUE 2014 At our last Annual Meeting of the also discussed the effects and implica- WFUWO held in Paris in July 2014, tions of the virulent disinformation delegates from nine countries of the being circulated through social media as Ukrainian diaspora met over a wide part of the newly expanded “information range of global concerns. We celebrated wars” arena. We are deeply concerned the renewal of our WFUWO representa- about Ukraine’s future. tion to UN/Geneva and we heard reports about the status of Ukrainian migrant We bring you this special United Na- women and generations of women of tions issue of our quarterly journal, Ukrainian heritage living in various Ukrainian Women in the World, to re- countries of our diaspora. And while we view some of the ground we cover as a resolved to do whatever we could to bol- federation of women’s organizations ster Ukrainian aspirations for democ- and to share our aspirations as a dias- racy, freedom and peaceful security, we poran women’s community. Established in 1948 in the United States, in Philadelphia, by ten women’s organizations, the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations (WFUWO), now based in Toronto, Canada, unites 29 organizations from 18 countries on four continents. Representing a spectrum of women’s organizations pursuing civic, religious, cultural, educational, immigration, and humanitarian goals, WFUWO reflects the activity of local Ukrainian communities worldwide, as well as inter- national networking through a relationship with the United Nations. WFUWO is an NGO in consultative status with UN/ECOSOC (1993), accredited with UNDPI (1990), and a member of the NGO Commit- tee on UNICEF (1997). At the core of WFUWO’s mission is support for the dignity and integrity of women in Ukraine and Ukrainian women in émigré communities by supporting adherence to interna- tional standards of human rights, raising public awareness of prob- lems and violations, maintaining Ukrainian language and culture, cultivating awareness of Ukrainian history, family and social tradi- tions, as well as efforts that support modern Ukraine’s development into an independent, stable democracy with respect for rule of law. UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL ISSUE 2014 3 WFUWO UNITED NATIONS REPRESENTATIVES IN NEW YORK CITY At United Nations Headquarters in representatives to ECOSOC. Irene New York City, WFUWO’s NGO rep- Jarosewich is WFUWO’s Main Rep- resentation is headed by Dr. Martha resentative to UN DPI, with Natalia Kichorowska Kebalo, as of January Sonevytsky and Moki Kokoris as addi- 2013, the Main Representative to tional representatives, recently joined UN/ECOSOC. Nadia Shmigel, Dr. by Mariya Soroka and Viktoriia Larysa Dyrszka, Sofika Zielyk and Brezheniuk as UN DPI Youth Repre- Tamara Parubchenko are additional sentatives. UN/ECOSOC REPRESENTATION ing the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, the Women’s As- sociation of the Organization for the Defense of Four Freedoms for Ukraine and the United Ukrainian Orthodox Sisterhoods of the USA, among others.