By KYIV. Dec 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The national budget of Ukraine for 2023 provides for UAH 175.4 million for a subvention to local budgets to develop a network of specialized services to provide assistance to victims of sexual violence and support women with children who went abroad because of the war, First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska has said.
According to the information on the website of the Office of the President, this financial support is planned for the development of specialized services in 30 communities, including those that have been damaged since February 2022.
"We live and work now in conditions of defense against the aggression of the Russian Federation. Confronting Russian terror is no reason to forget about non-military violence. About the one that comes not in the form of bombs, but in private. Now, when all of us, the whole country, know how scary and painful it is to face an aggressor, we can understand the victims of domestic violence more than ever. And we have to help them," Zelenska said.
As of December 1, 2022, there are 741 specialized support services for victims (shelters, hotlines, mobile teams, social apartments, resource centers, anonymous social and psychological assistance points) in Ukraine. In the current year, eight shelters, 21 day centers, 26 advisory services, and 81 mobile teams were put into operation.
According to the results of monitoring of specialized support services, 14,925 people received specialized services, of which 345 people, including women with children, received shelter services.
The Social Policy Ministry, for its part, approved amendments to the National Action Plan for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 for the period until 2025; the document expanded the list of measures to provide effective and timely assistance to victims of conflict-related sexual violence.
As reported, Ukraine joined the Biarritz Partnership international initiative to promote gender equality and fight violence in 2020.
