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НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ • Липень 2025 9 cluding Ukraine, gathered in Beijing for the UN’s 4th World Conference on Women. It was there that Hillary Clinton’s words, “women’s rights are human rights, and human rights are women’s rights” ech - oed around the world. And are still resonant today. She mentioned a litany of abuses, from human trafficking to domestic violence, and after each one she said “this is a violation of human rights.” As a result of Beijing, international human rights law fi - nally recognized these abuses as violations of hu - man rights — 187 countries by consensus adopted a platform for action that has served as a blueprint for women’s progress everywhere: women have a right to an education and health care; to participate in the economic and political life of their countries; to be free from violence and discrimination; to en - gage in ending wars and creating peace. Beijing kindled a global movement — a powerful sister - hood — that has been working for equal rights and a better world ever since. Sadly, there has been pushback to restrict wom - en’s progress and participation, particularly by au - thoritarian leaders today, yet the sisterhood per - sists. Dr. Shvets has given us rich details about the ear - ly women’s movement in Ukraine — women who were determined to become active members of their society. In the U.S., women like Jane Adams who created settlement houses and others like her were also engaging in civic action to address the societal dislocation created by industrialization and urbanization. They believed they had obligations for the welfare of society as a whole, and like the Ukrainian pioneers, they made a difference. In my own life, as a second-generation Ukraini - an American, I was inspired by what the pioneer - ing immigrants achieved when they settled in the U.S. My grandmother was formidable, and in 1894 she was one of the founding members of the first Ukrainian national organization in the town in which many early immigrants settled — in Sham - okin, Pennsylvania. Although the organization was called the “brotherhood,” it was inclusive — a self- help organization that addressed the needs of the community and answered the call to service. It was a place where immigrants could safely save their money and get credit to start businesses — as my grandmother did when she was widowed. They provided English lessons to the community and much more. They also built one of the first Ukrain - ian Catholic churches in the U.S. in 1889. This was in the same spirit of the pioneering women in Ukraine. And the tradition of the sisterhood continued in more recent times. In 1994, I accompanied President Clinton on the first trip of a United States president to a free Ukraine, and during that visit, I met with inspiring representatives of women’s organizations who were determined to build Ukraine’s new democ - racy, and we began to work with them. A year af - ter the Beijing conference, we in the United States created the State Department’s Vital Voices de - mocracy initiative. It was designed to help women, now freed from the yoke of Soviet communism, to better prepare to become leaders of the new de - mocracies. The first conference brought together women from Eastern Europe and Central Asia in Vienna as well as women from the U.S., including a delegation from the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America. The women from the new democracies, includ - ing Ukraine, understood they had the power to raise their vital voices, to hold their governments accountable, to participate in a market economy — to run for office and create small businesses. The objective of the gathering was to support a wider network of east-west women leaders — a sister - hood across geographies — to equip the women leaders in the new democracies to assert their power as citizens. It was there that the women from Ukraine told Hillary Clinton that women in Ukraine were “disap - pearing.” They were being offered good jobs, nev - er to be heard from again, and the authorities did nothing, the women said. They pleaded, “please do something!” And we did. It was that conversation that moved the U.S. to investigate what became known as hu - man trafficking — a growing billion-dollar criminal industry that preyed on women who were des - perate for jobs, enticing them with promises that turned into nightmares, as they were coerced into what was nothing less than modern-day slavery. It became clear that this was a global scourge, and the U.S. ultimately passed the first law to prevent human trafficking, protect the survivors and prose - cute the perpetrators. For years the U.S. supported groups like La Strada in Ukraine who were working to prevent human trafficking. It was also at the conference in Vienna that I met Kateryna Levchenko, who today serves as Ukraine’s Commissioner for Gender Equality. That was al - most three decades ago, and we are still working together. If that isn’t an example of the power of the global sisterhood, I don’t know what is!
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