Remarks by United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Sima Bahous, at the UN Security Council briefing on the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine.

We are deeply shocked by the images of civilians killed in Bucha and other localities, and gravely concerned about mounting allegations of sexual violence perpetrated against women and girls in the context of the war in Ukraine.

Anna Ryl heads the anti-trafficking foundation, Korgau Astana, in Kazakhstan, supporting women and children in difficult situations. Started in 2009, her foundation also ran the first shelter for survivors of domestic and sexual violence in the county’s capital, Nur-Sultan, providing free legal and psychological services for survivors. Today, the organization has the branches in all regional centers nationwide.

Milica Gudović is an activist of the Citizens Association for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and All Forms of Gender-Based Violence (ATINA). Here she speaks about the work of ATINA which is supported by UN Women with funding from the European Union. With vocational training and business skills, the organization helps survivors of trafficking to reintegrate into society, become independent and and earn an income. ATINA also provides psychosocial support, legal aid and safe-houses for the survivors of trafficking.

Princess Eugenie of York visited grantees of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) in Belgrade, Serbia and was introduced to the work of organizations that are changing the lives of victims/survivors of trafficking in persons for the better.

Spartak Kosta is a third-year journalism student at the University of History and Philology in Tirana, Albania. He was among the first group of students to take a new university course on the reporting of trafficking of women and girls. The educational course was developed at the recommendation of a UN Women monitoring report. The study finds that journalists often write shallow trafficking stories that lack deep analysis and use unethical language with regards to victims.

Originally from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Luiza Karimova left her son with her family and travelled to Osh, Kyrgyzstan to find work. In Kyrgyzstan, she was sold into sex slavery and trafficked into Dubai. After 18 months, she was arrested and sent to jail. Today, Karimova works with Podruga, an organization based in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, which is supported by UN Women. Podruga works to end violence against women and assists women subjected to sex and drug trafficking.

To support women and girl survivors of trafficking, UN Women in Albania has been supporting service-providers in shelters with capacity-building and salary subsidies under the project “Preventing and addressing violence against women and girls in Albania”, implemented by UN Women with funding from the European Union.

20 years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, UN Women co-organises a global meeting in Istanbul to get political commitment for active measures to end violence against women and girls.

In her statement to mark this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka says “if we all work together: governments, civil society organizations, the UN system, businesses, schools, and individuals mobilizing through new solidarity movements, we will eventually achieve a more equal world—a Planet 50-50—where women and girls can and will live free from violence”.

Five women survivors of violence detail their successful struggles for policy and legislative reforms in their countries at a panel for survivors at the Stakeholders’ Forum on Preventing and Eliminating Violence against Women, organized by UN Women in New York.