Women’s civil society organizations meet to strengthen refugee response in Slovakia
Date:
25 May 2023 – Local women’s civil society organizations and those working on issues related to gender, human rights, refugee and migration, and humanitarian response met in Bratislava, Slovakia for a half-day consultation facilitated by UN Women and Mareena, a local NGO working on integration and social cohesion, to discuss challenges, lessons learned, and opportunities associated with the Ukraine refugee crisis one year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The consultation facilitated discussions on funding gaps and opportunities to identify areas where additional resources were required to meet the diverse needs of women and girls affected by the crisis. It also provided a platform for local women-led civil society organizations to share experiences and best practices and set forth recommendations and strategies for improving the response at local, national and international levels.
The recommendations and strategies are envisioned to strengthen gender mainstreaming in future response plans and ensure that the voices and rights of displaced women and girls are upheld.
Heorhii Markov, Assistant Director of Gender Stream, a Ukrainian CSO working on LGBTQIA+ and refugee rights, said: “There is a huge gap in data when it comes to the experiences of LGBTQIA+ individuals affected by the ongoing war – whether they are in Ukraine, Slovakia, Poland or Germany. We need to start listening to the LGBTQIA+ individuals about their needs, concerns and plans for the future.”
Lucia Roussier, Director of Equita, a local civil society organization providing support to people who face barriers in accessing healthcare, said “The consultation is a great networking opportunity where we can exchange our experiences as well as discuss challenges and opportunities. It is crucial also because we do not have the resources or the teams to facilitate consultations of this scale.”
The consultation was organized by UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia within the framework of the inter-agency Slovakia 2023 Refugee Response Plan supported by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.