Ukrainian men seek reparations more often than women for sexual violence during war

In Ukraine, more men than women applied to the Interim Reparations Project due to war-related sexual violence.

The Commissioner for Gender Policy, Kateryna Levchenko, said this during a press conference at the "Ukraine Media Center."

"There have been more male applicants for the interim reparations project than female. Additionally, compensation has been given to a larger number of men compared to women. This challenges the notion that this violence solely targets women, and Ukraine serves as an example of this," Kateryna Levchenko said.

She did not name the exact number of injured men who applied for compensation.

However, 409 people have applied for compensation, and about 250 have already received help.

The Commissioner also believes that after the crimes committed, Russia should be included in the blacklist of countries in accordance with the procedure for submitting a report by the UN Secretary-General on combating sexual violence in conflicts.

"There is a blacklist of countries that cannot use their contingent to conduct peacekeeping operations anywhere on the globe. Today, Russia is part of these "peacekeeping processes" – I say this with great irony.

So, for this, we need advocacy, we need an understanding of how we can work with international partners and on a bilateral level, and Ukrainian society should also be aware of the need to do this and support such efforts," Kateryna Levchenko noted.

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It should be noted that in June 2024, the Verkhovna Rada [Ukraine's parliament – ed.] passed draft law No. 10132, which aims to assist and restore the rights of individuals who have been victims of sexual violence due to the Russian armed aggression.

The project deals with determining the legal status of such people and establishing the procedure for providing victims and their families with immediate reparations.

Ukrainians, whom the special commission recognizes as belonging to this category of persons, will be entered into the unified register.

In addition, the document suggests enshrining at the legislative level the procedure for providing victims and their families with immediate reparations, which will include:

• financial payments;
• emergency medical and psychological assistance;
• legal support.

The proposed legislation also includes the creation of a Fund for expeditious compensation payments, which will be funded, in part, by recovered losses, reparations, and other monetary returns from the Russian Federation.

In addition, local self-government bodies are planned to be allowed to independently approve local programs and create funds to help victims and family members of the dead or deceased.

According to Olena Zelenska, the wife of the president, since the onset of the full-scale war in Ukraine, as of March 2024, a total of 274 cases of "sexual violence" have been recorded.

It should be pointed out that the victims of sexual abuse by the occupiers in Ukraine will receive immediate interim reparations in the form of one-time monetary aid. The amount of the reparations is 3,000 euros. The project's initial phase began on April 15 and will continue until the end of October this year.