Kyiv, 21 July 2016 – Leading women's civil society organizations today convened a coordination meeting to prepare alternative reports on Ukraine's implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 and ratified by 189 states, including Ukraine, which is now legally bound to put its provisions into practice and to submit national reports every four years on measures taken to comply with the convention obligations.

 

Often described as an international bill of rights for women, the Convention defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. So far, Ukraine submitted its 8th periodic report.

 

As Ukraine comes under CEDAW review again early next year, civil society groups plan to submit to the CEDAW Committee their own reports on the prevalence of various forms of discrimination and violence against women in Ukraine, as grassroots alternative testimonies of the substantial and entrenched barriers Ukrainian women still grapple with in different areas of their lives.

 

In preparation to the meeting of the pre-sessional Working Group of the Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the representatives of 5 groups of CSOs submitting their shadow reports coordinated the key issues to be raised with the Committee next week in Geneva (25-29 July 2016).

 

Topical issues of concerns included the situation of Roma women, gender-based violence in the zone of armed conflict in Donetsk and Luhansk and the consequences of armed conflict on women, the participation of women in efforts to create and maintain peace and security, as well as the situation of women on the labor market.