The round table on awareness raising is the first of a three-part Roundtable Series on advancing the fight against violence against women and domestic violence through Istanbul Convention standards. The round table took place on 1 July 2020 with 32 participants, including the Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy, representatives from the Ministry of Social Policy, Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Police, civil society, international organizations, national experts as well as the Council of Europe (CoE) office in Kiev, and Gender Equality Division.

Awareness Raising campaigns are an important element in the prevention of violence against women and domestic violence. In order to tackle the issue of domestic violence and violence against women, it is necessary to change the environment that enables this violence; attitudes and behaviours that ignore, condone or perpetuate violence against women in all of its forms.

The round table was opened by Olena Lytvynenko, the Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine who called the participants to work primarily to change attitudes toward violence against women.

The participants were also greeted by Kateryna Levchenko, the Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy and Anatoliy Osadchyi, the Department of Implementation of the European Equality Standards, the Head of Gender Policy Department, Ministry of Social Policy.

Karin Heisecke, an international expert on awareness raising and the Istanbul Convention and author of the Council of Europe 2018 guidance on awareness-raising on violence against women in Ukraine, introduced the participants to Istanbul Convention standards on awareness raising as well as promising international practices. Yelyzaveta Kuzmenko, the project’s national expert on awareness raising, introduced the participants to awareness raising efforts in the national context and challenges of raising awareness on violence against women and domestic violence in Ukraine. After the presentations, the participants exchanged their opinions on the development of awareness raising activities in Ukraine.

Council of Europe resources shared with participants during the Awareness Raising roundtable included:

• 2018 Guidance to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine with regard to a long-term approach to awareness-raising on violence against women and domestic violence in Ukraine
  • https://rm.coe.int/guidance-to-the-msp-eng-updated/16809eed87
• Info-graphics on the Istanbul Convention
  • https://www.flickr.cm/photos/146497576@N03/albums/72157714719240281
• Questions and answers on the misconceptions of The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention)
  • https://rm.ce.int/q-a-end-misconceptions-about-the-ic/168094ef3f&format=native
• Collection of publications from the current 2018-2020 project:
  • https://www.ce.int/en/web/kyiv/the-istanbul-convention-a-tool-to-advance-in-fighting-violence-against-women-and-domestic-violence-in-ukraine#{%2243471198%22:[1]}
• Collection of publications from the 2016-2018 project on violence against women in Ukraine
  • https://www.ce.int/en/web/kyiv/combating-violence-against-women-and-children-in-ukraine#{%2227861388%22:[0]}