Ukraine

The study includes a survey, with the majority of respondents believing that women can command combat units, and that they have a harder time building a career compared to men. At the same time, prejudicial views regarding women in the armed forces still remain in society: more than 50% think that women are better off performing non-combat roles, and 40% believe that women in the military have more problems in their family life compared to civilian women. Women often face biased treatment in the form of being patronized and protected.

In this report from JurFem, experts analyze the impact of martial law introduced in response to Russia’s full-scale military aggression against Ukraine on access to justice for domestic violence victims, as well as the nuances of court examination for cases involving domestic violence amid the war. In January-June 2022, in 83% of cases, victims of domestic violence were women.

The study was prepared based on the results of a survey conducted among women that were subjected to domestic violence, as well as on a qualitative analysis of Ukrainian legislation.

The study from JurFem is dedicated to the analysis of women serving prison sentences. According to experts, Ukrainian legislation on serving prison terms is mostly gender-neutral regarding women and men.

The applicant, a 16-year-old boy, was held in handcuffs and underwear in a police station for 2.5 hours and subsequently placed in a cell with adults. He was interviewed at a police station concerning a murder, rape, and robbery investigation. According to the applicant, under this pressure, he confessed to murder. Domestic courts convicted the applicant of robbery and aggravated murder, and sentenced him to 13 years’ imprisonment. The court rejected the applicant’s argument that his confessions were inadmissible because they had been obtained under duress.

The Law (No 2523-VIII) amended the Statute of the Internal Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine 'On Military Service and Military Duty' in order to allow women to be assigned to 24-hour military duty on an equal basis with men.

This Law defines the right to free legal aid. Free legal aid is legal aid guaranteed by the state and fully or partially provided at the expense of the State Budget of Ukraine, local budgets, and other sources. Legal aid is the provision of legal services to ensure, protect, and provide redress for violations of human and civil rights and freedoms. Ukraine provides primary legal aid to all people and secondary legal aid to underserved groups.

The Law provides a number of benefits and guarantees for women. In particular, annual basic and additional full-time leave in the first year of work is provided to employees after six months of continuous work at the enterprise, institution, or organization. However, until this term, such leave may be granted to women (at their request) before or after maternity leave, as well as to women who have two or more children under the age of 15 or a child with a disability.

The Law 'On Civil Service,' among the other main principles of civil service, defines equal access to civil service, namely the prohibition of all forms of discrimination, unjustified restrictions, and granting unjustified advantages to certain categories of citizens when entering and completing civil service. It is interesting that the enforcement of this rule is carried out through some measures, which are taken by the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service.

The Law "On Combating Trafficking in Human Beings" defines the organizational and legal framework for combating trafficking, guaranteeing gender equality, the main directions of state policy and principles of international cooperation in this area, the powers of executive authorities, the procedure for establishing the status of persons affected by human trafficking, and the procedure for assisting such persons.