BEIJING +25 YEARS ON PARALLEL REPORT UKRAINE 2014-2019 Steering Committee Steering committee of the National Parallel Report on the Implementation by Ukraine of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: Dr. Lyudmyla Porokhnyak, president of the National Council of Women of Ukraine Maryna Rudenko, coordinator, Women’s Information Consultative Center Dr. Martha Kichorowska Kebalo, main representative for WFUWO to UN/ECOSOC Dr. Marfa Skoryk, director, Kyiv Institute of Gender Studies Olena Davlikanova, project coordinator, Friedrich Ebert Foundation Office in Ukraine Translated from Ukrainian to English by Maria Dmytriyeva, FB community Feminism UA. Contents List of abbreviations ........................................................................................................ 2 Preface ............................................................................................................................. 4 Section One. PRIORITIES, ACHIEVEMENTS, CHALLENGES AND SETBACKS ............................................... 5 Section Two. PROGRESS ACROSS THE 12 CRITICAL AREAS OF CONCERN .............................................. 13 Inclusive development, shared prosperity and decent work, paragraphs 5-8 ....................... 13 Poverty eradication, social protection and social services, paragraphs 8-11 ......................... 21 Freedom from violence, stigma and stereotypes, paragraphs 12-18 ................................... 36 Participation, accountability and gender-responsive institutions, paragraphs 18-24 ............. 45 Peaceful and inclusive societies, paragraphs 25-28 ............................................................. 50 Environmental conservation, protection and rehabilitation, paragraphs 29-30 .................... 60 Section Three. NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND PROCESSES, paragraphs 31-34 ........................................... 61 Section Four. DATA AND STATISTICS, paragraphs 35-38 ........................................................................ 65 List of authors ................................................................................................................ 67 List of abbreviations CCU Criminal Code of Ukraine CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CFTU Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine CMU Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine EU European Union FES-Ukraine Friedrich Ebert Foundation Office in Ukraine GBV gender-based violence GRETA Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings ICW International Council of Women IDPs internally displaced persons IFU Inter-faction Union of MPs in Ukraine’s Parliament IGCA Industrial Gender Committee for Advertising ILO International Labor Organization IOM International Organization for Migration LU Law of Ukraine M&E monitoring and evaluation MES Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine MHU Ministry of Health of Ukraine MJU Ministry of Justice of Ukraine MP Member of Parliament, People’s Deputy of Ukraine NAP 1325 National Action Plan for the Implementation of UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security until 2020 NAP CEDAW National Action Plan for the Implementation of the Recommendations set out in the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in the eighth periodic report of Ukraine on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women until 2021 National Review Ukraine’s National Review of the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995 submitted in 2019 NCW National Council of Women NDI National Democratic Institute NGO non-governmental organization PSA public service announcement SDG Sustainable Development Goal(s) State Labor State Labor Service of Ukraine State Program State Social Program on Providing Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men until 2021. STEM Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics SSS State Statistics Service TORCH TORCH group of perinatal infections UAH hryvnia (Ukrainian currency) UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNOPS UN Office for Project Services UPR Universal Periodic Review USD United States Dollars USAID United States Agency for International Development VAW violence against women VRU Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Parliament of Ukraine) WHO World Health Organization PARALLEL REPORT UKRAINE | 2014-2019 Preface While highly appreciating the National Report organized by the UN Women office in Ukraine, prepared by the State, the Ukrainian women’s Kyiv, September 17), and other events. NGOs decided to independently summarize the efforts on promoting the rights of women and girls This Report appeared as a result of self-organization in Ukraine in the last five trying years. The war and of Ukrainian women’s, feminist and research loss of a part of the Ukrainian territories, over a organizations, and their volunteer work. The Parallel million of internally displaced persons, economic report became a «living document», a joint effort of decline, and the need for the countrywide reforms writing, updating and rectifications, a great tool for have created additional challenges for the coalition building and advocacy work for governmental policy. representation and protection of the interests of women and girls both within and outside the country. Therefore, in June of 2019, four organizations (National Women’s Council of Ukraine, Women’s As Kateryna Levchenko, the Governmental High Information Consultative Center, Kyiv Gender Commissioner for Gender Policy, pointed out, “This Studies Institute and World Federation of Ukrainian was a very important work of a wide coalition of Women’s Organizations) announced their intention NGOs and experts, executed at a high professional to jointly write the Parallel Report and present an level, based on the comprehensive approaches and independent view on the situation with the views, representing diverse aspects and issues, the securing and protecting the rights of women and relevance of the gathered information with practical girls in Ukraine. More than 40 respected women’s, recommendations”. feminist and research NGOs from all over the country and with the expertise in a wide range of The Report recommendations and conclusions were gender policy issues supported this initiative along presented to the newly elected MPs (October 2019). with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Office in Ukraine. The Coordinating Committee on preparing the National Parallel Report on the Implementation of The draft Report was presented on August 20, 2019 the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action at the National Consultation on preparing the draft expresses its gratitude to: National Parallel Report on the Implementation of – the Office of the Parliamentary High the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Commissioner for Human Rights for their which was held under the aegis of the Parliamentary support and advocating the Parallel Report’s High Commissioner for Human Rights and in conclusions; cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. – the Governmental High Commissioner for Despite the tight timeline, the process of preparing Gender Policy and the High Commissioner’s the parallel report was open and everybody Office for the submitted comments and interested was given an opportunity to comment additions to the Report; and make suggestions on the Report. – the Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ukraine for partnership and support in preparing The draft Report was presented and discussed at this parallel report; the Annual conference of WFUWO (Lviv, – all activists, researchers, and the feminist August 30 – September 4), the Coordinating community, which engaged in preparing, meeting on preparing for the 64th session of the commenting, editing and discussing the UN Commission on the Status of Women and the Report’s text, conclusions and 25th anniversary of the Beijing Action Plan, recommendations. 4 PARALLEL REPORT UKRAINE | 2014-2019 Section One: PRIORITIES, ACHIEVEMENTS, CHALLENGES AND SETBACKS 1. What have been the most important Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination achievements, challenges, and setbacks against Women, given to Ukraine by the CEDAW in progress towards gender equality and Committee in March of 2017. the empowerment of women over the past 5 years? During the reporting period, the national machinery for gender equality was enhanced. Coordination of What are general achievements in implementation interaction between the central bodies of executive of the BPfA and CEDAW and SDGs? power on gender equality issues was made part of the mandate of the Deputy Prime-Minister for Within the past 5 years, Ukraine’s implementation European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine of gender policy was more effective than it was (Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze held this position from during the previous reporting period. Directions March 2017 to September 2019.) In addition, in June taken with respect to gender policy were determined 2017, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (CMU) by: introduced the position of Governmental – the onset of armed conflict in the East of Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy, Ukraine caused by the occupation of a part of subordinated to the line of the Deputy Prime Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and annexation Minister (Dr. Kateryna Levchenko was appointed to of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea by the this position as of February 2018). Russian Federation.