Including women in peace negotiations brings better outcomes, according to the United Nations. It generates greater buy-ins, improves team performance and makes peace more durable.
Despite women’s critical role in peacebuilding, they are often left out of political and negotiation processes all around the world. The problem is persistent in Ukraine. But UN Women in Ukraine is determined to change that.
The entity has launched the “Women Are Key to Peace” campaign throughout November to raise awareness of women’s role in peacebuilding through personal stories of women who found effective solutions during Russia’s war in Donbas to help others.
“Despite all the challenges, these women managed to not only fundamentally change their own lives for the better, but also to help others in need,” reads a statement on the UN Women in Ukraine’s campaign site.
The campaign marks the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 — a groundbreaking step for gender equality in peace and security.
The project was funded by Norway, Sweden, Canada, Denmark and the European Union.
Women, Peace and Security agenda
Resolution 1325 marks the first time the UN’s Security Council emphasized the importance of changing the idea of the women’s role from victims of conflict to a participant of conflict resolution and peacekeeping operations on an equal basis as men.
This led to the creation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, with eight additional resolutions falling under a single umbrella.
The adoption of Resolution 1325 was a significant step for gender equality. There has been a substantial increase in the frequency of gender-sensitive language in peace agreements and the number of women serving as official negotiators, mediators or signatories.
But the progress is slow and women are still under-represented in all peace processes. Today women comprise only 3% of mediators, 4% of agreement signatories and 13% of negotiators worldwide.
In 2016, Ukraine became the first country to adopt the five-year National Action Plan 1325 during an armed conflict. The second National Action Plan for the term 2021–2025 with new goals and objectives were approved by the government last month, but appropriate funding and human resources will be needed for its implementation.
“Ukraine is still at the beginning stages of creating formal networks of women-peacebuilders across the women’s groups,” Svitlana Zakrynytska, UN Specialist in Women, Peace and Security agenda, told the Kyiv Post.
Zakrynytska said that there are many active women human right defenders and peacebuilders who already facilitate peace dialogues in their communities in Ukraine, and their work should be acknowledged.
Overlooked stories
Throughout November, nine video stories of Ukrainian women who were at the epicenter of war were broadcast on popular Ukrainian TV channels and shared on UN Women and partner websites and social media.
Heroines of these stories are internally displaced military veterans, doctors, teachers, entrepreneurs, civil activists and leaders of self-help groups and social rehabilitation centers. These leaders actively participate in rebuilding their communities and advocate for their rights.
Kateryna Lytvynenko, Advocacy and Communications Specialist of UN Women in Ukraine, says that women’s contributions are overlooked, but it is often their work that brings communities together and helps those in need. UN Women launched the campaign to serve as a platform to amplify these voices.
The campaign starts with the story of Liudmyla Bileka, a former volunteer nurse at the frontline of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. After leaving the war, Bileka suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression returning to civilian life.
Playing a role in “Atlantis,” a post-war drama about a veteran trying to rebuild his life in near-future Ukraine after it came victorious in Russia’s war, has helped to get back on her feet. Bileka now commits to helping other veterans heal from the trauma of the war.
Another story spotlights Olga Martynenko, head of the infectious disease department at the central hospital of Druzhkivka in Donetsk Oblast. After repeatedly getting ignored, Martynenko finally convinced the local government to provide personal protective equipment for the hospital workers during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Thanks to her efforts, the hospital received 50 protective suits from the government. The entire city now relies on her clinic in the fight against the coronavirus.
Another heroine is Andriana Arekhta, a war veteran who has served in an attack aircraft at the frontline. She was ranked as junior sergeant and left the battlefield during her pregnancy in 2015.
Upon return, Arekhta realized that female veterans face many challenges: post-traumatic stress disorder, family issues, economic challenges, sexual harassment, ageism and public condemnation.
So in 2019, along with fellow women veterans, she co-founded the Ukrainian Women Veteran Movement, an association to defend the rights of women soldiers and veterans as well as to support each other. The organization was initially supported by the UN Women and the Swedish Embassy, but it is now independent.
“Our mission is to make sure that Ukraine is in a better condition than we have inherited for the future generation,” Arekhta told the Kyiv Post.
The association is dealing with the consequences of the war. But in order for Ukraine to restore integrity and independence, the country needs to develop long-term strategic planning. And Arekhta says women need to be part of it.
“We want our voices to be heard in the peacebuilding process,” Arekhta said.
Swedish Ambassador to Ukraine Tobias Thyberg speaks with the Kyiv Post at his official residence above the Swedish Embassy in Kyiv on Aug. 12, 2020. Sweden is a long-time supporter of Ukraine and a dedicated international advocate for gender equality. (Oleg Petrasiuk)
Building peace in Donbas
Women have been joining the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 1993 but employment discrimination is no stranger to the military. It was only in 2018 that Ukrainian parliament Verkhovna Rada finally adopted the law to equalize the rights of women and men in the army — opening combat roles like snipers and grenade launchers to women.
Recent data shows that there are nearly 30,000 women serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which makes up 14% of all combat-ready military personnel. Representation of women in defense has been increasing consistently with global development trends.
However, despite women’s crucial role in peacebuilding, only two of the seven Ukrainian delegates in the Tripartite Contact Group are women. The group consists of representatives from Ukraine, Russia and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), who have been meeting regularly since June 2014 to find a peaceful settlement of the war in Donbas.
Ukraine’s long-term partner and internationally-famous advocate for equal rights, Sweden, is dedicated to help Ukraine achieve better results.
As the number one country in the EU’s gender equality index, Sweden provided financial support for the “Women Are Key to Peace” campaign.
The Swedish Ambassador in Ukraine, Tobias Thyberg, says that negotiation teams should consist of women and men on an equal basis because otherwise “agreements will at best be partial, with a high risk that they soon fall apart.”
Regularly consulting women’s organizations is another important asset in creating a gender-equal society, but the ambassador says that such consultation will never substitute for women’s meaningful participation that all formal negotiating teams need.
“Impacts of conflict are seldom gender-neutral, which is why it is extremely important to understand the different ways that the conflict affects women, men, girls and boys,” Thyberg told the Kyiv Post.
“I would welcome an explicit commitment from Ukraine’s leadership to women’s meaningful participation in efforts to resolve the conflict in Donbas and restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity — both eastern Ukraine and Crimea,” he added.
