Debate: The impact of the war against Ukraine on women
Date: THURSDAY, 5 MAY 2022
Speaker: Robert Biedroń
Country: Poland
Language: EN

This is why the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality has prepared a resolution on the impact of this war on girls and women, which strongly condemns the Russian aggression and orders the EU and its Member States to ensure that women seeking refuge in Europe receive all the support they need. Every day, independent media alert us that mass rapes, sexual and gender—based violence, torture and genocide are being used as a weapon of this war. We will not rest until the perpetrators of those crimes are brought to justice. This is the promise, this is the declaration which must be heard today in this House.  But, even when they are, deeply wounded lives might never recover from such a trauma. Since the beginning of the Russian aggression, more than 5 million people have been forced to flee the country, with an estimated 90% of refugees being girls, women and children. As European citizens, we have reacted to the incoming refugees with unprecedented solidarity and, for the first time, the Council of the EU triggered the Temporary Protection Directive. From this place, I want to thank you, Commissioner Johansson, for your personal involvement in this case.  However, this is merely the first step and Member States need to increase their efforts in this regard. The risk of violence and sexual exploitation does not end once vulnerable women and children cross the border, as human traffickers increasingly profit from the crisis. Member States must improve the registration of all refugees and volunteers and ensure refugees can travel safely.  People need specialised support as survivors of violence. Those women need to gain access to livelihoods, including their ability to work and earn income to get stability and possible independence. The economic empowerment of women and integration is crucial here. Women within Ukraine and in the host EU countries require access to the full range of sexual reproductive health services. It is therefore absolutely unacceptable that, for instance, women seeking refuge in Poland – the EU country with the highest proportion of refugees – are forced to continue pregnancies that are the result of a brutal rape.  Finally, we need to ease the burden on civil society as they have worked tirelessly to help refugees, filling the gaps created by the sometimes slow and indecisive actions of our governments. It is high time that the Member States step up their efforts here.  Considering all the above, I would like to ask the Commissioner and the Commission what specific strategies to prevent and combat the trafficking of women and children is the EU implementing in this context? Second, what is your role in providing support to coordinating health services on the refugees’ arrival in the EU, which ensures that women have access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health services, including emergency contraception, contraception itself, legal and safe abortion care, antenatal care and skilled assistance during childbirth. Third, what is the EU’s role in collecting evidence against war atrocities that have been committed, in particular investigating war crimes, including rape? Fourth, what are the EU’s medium—term plans for managing the situation of women refugees?  Long live the heroic Ukrainian women.