Objectives
Fund scope
Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, one third of the population has been forced to leave their homes, including an overwhelming majority of women and children with the majority of men joining, or being conscripted into, the armed forces. As such, the risk of sexual violence, inclusive of conflict-driven trafficking, are high.
From February 2022 to September 2023, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 27,449 civilian casualties, 9,701 persons killed, and 17,748 injured. Allegations of atrocities and human rights violations in Ukraine are extensive and include accounts of CRSV, the breadth of which remains difficult to fully assess due to stigma, limited access to suitable, high-quality services (based on the type and scale of violations), disruption of health services, and the prevailing security situation. OHCHR documented 188 cases of CRSV, the majority of which were alleged to have been committed by Russian Armed Forces. In December 2022, the Office of the Prosecutor General reported 154 acts of conflict-related sexual violence perpetrated by Russian soldiers since February of that year.
Following the adoption of a Framework of Cooperation on preventing CRSV, the Office of the SRSG-SVC and UN parnters developed an Implementation Action Plan with the Ukrainian Office of the Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy. This plan ensures:
- Comprehensive services and effective referral pathways are in place.
- Security actors are trained to respect and enforce zero-tolerance policies.
- Measures are taken to mitigate the risk of human trafficking.
Central elements of the Ukraine CSRV Joint Programme comprise complementary and coordination actions that support the roll-out of the Implementation Plan in the context of the ongoing war. Critical to efforts is the deployment of additional CRSV capacities on the ground amongst the UN country team and relevant government stakeholders as part of the Joint Secretariat, as well as supporting the work of national and local civil society organizations, particularly women-led organizations.
Strategic framework and theory of change
The theory of change for the Ukraine CSRV Joint Programme assumes that if effective support is delivered in terms of policy development, capacity-building, awareness raising and support to survivors, national authorities will have an increased capacity to coordinate the roll-out of the Implementation Plan on the basis of accurate data. This will ensure that survivors have access to enhanced comprehensive, multisectoral services and accurate and timely information on these services is accessible in line with the survivor-centred approach.
Stakeholders leverage three main workstreams of policy development, capacity building and provision of support to survivors of sexual violence to substantively contribute to achieve strategic priorities laid out in the UN Transitional Framework in Ukraine and, more broadly, to SDG.
Aligned with general outcomes 1 and outcome 7 of the UN Action project on strengthening national and community-based CRSV prevention and response mechanisms in Ukraine is the programme’s survivor-centred multi-sector approach.