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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, СІЧЕНЬ 2015 WWW.UNWLA.ORG 7 The Ukraine Conflict and Wartime Gender-Based Violence: A UNWLA/WFUWO Forum by Dr. Martha Kichorowska Kebalo On December 6, 2014, the WFUWO and the UNWLA co-sponsored a forum, “The Ukraine Conflict and Wartime Gender-Based Violence.” This event was timed to engage with the annual “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence,” a campaign that since 1991 runs from November 25 (International Day for the Elimination of Vio- lence against Women and Girls) to December 10 (International Human Rights Day). A panel of speakers, brought together by Dr. Martha Kichor- owska Kebalo, explored the wide-ranging effects of war on women and the importance of ensuring women’s rights in times of national crisis. Even as Ukraine’s women are choosing how to participate in the defense of their country, women are severely victimized by wartime displacement and the de- struction of physical and social infrastructure, and it is also women who bear the brunt of responsibil- ity for the caretaking that ensues... of the wounded, traumatized, and bereaved. In her introduction, Dr. Kebalo empha- sized that our support for Ukraine’s self-defense in the face of aggression does not automatically mean relegating women’s perspectives and needs to the back burner. Women are integral to the current developments and, as women, have a differentiated experience of them. We recognize that while some women find personal empowerment in taking up the call to defend their homeland, is it also true that wartime conflict and the accompanying mili- tarism serve to solidify male-female stereotypes and to heighten women’s disadvantage, including increased exposure to sexual and other forms of gender-based violence. The evening occasioned a very frank, thoughtful, and productive discussion among the panel participants and the audience. Dr. Marian Rubchak spoke about how “A Fiery EuroMaidan Ignite(d) a Feminist Voice.” Ukraine’s women face tremendous pressure to hold to a purely traditional line of behavior, which many are resisting in unexpected ways. Editor of two anthologies of works on Ukraine’s women, Mapping Difference: The Many Faces of Women in Ukraine and New Imaginaries: Youthful Rein- vention of Ukraine’s Cultural Paradigm (forth- coming, summer 2014), Dr. Rubchak regaled her listeners with a description of the odyssey of wom- en’s participation on Ukraine’s EuroMaidan, and the creation of the Women’s Squadron, the Zhino- cha Sotnia , to whom her new book, New Imagi- naries , is dedicated. Ayla Bakkalli, the USA Representative of the Indigenous Crimean Tatar Meijlis and Advisor Logos of the annual campaign “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.” on Indigenous Matters to the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations, spoke passionately about the situation that has befallen the Crimean Tatars. The invasion and annexation of their Crime- an homeland to the Russian Federation is replaying the tragic history of their forced mass exile of 1944 as the entire community has again become a forcibly displaced population. (Minimally 19,000 Crimean Tatars are among the over 450,000 internally dis- placed persons (IDPs) in Ukraine, most of these IDPs being women and their dependent children and elderly.) The Crimean Tatars are adamant in their desire to remain Ukrainian citizens: Crimean Tatars were active on the Maidan and openly resist- ed the Russian take-over of Crimea. Now the rem- nants of the community in Crimea are suffering se- vere discrimination, harassment, confiscation of property, kidnappings, disappearances and con- firmed murders. However, the Crimean Tatars, as indigenous peoples of Ukraine with acknowledged rights to self-determination, insist on enjoying their rightful autonomy within Ukraine’s territorial integ- rity, and not as citizens of the Russian Federation. Ms. Bakkalli pleaded that we as Ukrainians never give up on Crimea and continue to insist on a Cri- mea’s return to Ukraine. Roksolana Misilo, 4th Vice President for Public Relations, spoke about the UNWLA’s most recent humanitarian initiative: the UNWLA’s War Victims Fund. She explained the workings of the fund and described how the fund has already start- ed to bring comfort to those most in need. In her concluding remarks, Dr. Kebalo re- affirmed the commitment of the Ukrainian wom- en’s diaspora to stand in solidarity with the Crime- an Tatar women and the political goals of their in- digenous community. She also emphasized that Ukraine’s women need to continue to seek political office on all levels, so that they are participants in current decision making and budget apportion- ment, and most importantly, take a role in leading Ukraine out of this conflict into a time of renewed peace and security. Dr. Kebalo is a member of UNWLA Branch 64 in New York, who is currently the Main Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations (1948), of which the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America is a founding member. The World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations (WFUWO) is a network through which Ukrainian wom- en’s organizations of the worldwide diaspora connect to other international women’s organ- izations, participate in the global women’s movement and—through its non-governmental (NGO) organizational representation to the United Nations—advocate for their sisters in their Ukrainian homeland and outside of it.
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