Despite substantial challenges in Ukraine including a health pandemic, substantial backlash against the Istanbul Convention and the expanded aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the successful results of the two year Council of Europe “Combatting violence against women in Ukraine” (COVAW) project were discussed at an online steering committee meeting on 30 November 2022.

In two years of implementation, among other achievements the COVAW project has:

• Supported Istanbul Convention ratification efforts and increased awareness about violence against women in all its forms through translation of 12 key CoE publications, support for high level missions, speeches and exchanges of letters, and the development of infographics, videos, social media campaigns and online events (all publications are available on the COVAW project webpage).

• Supported police to enhance the safety and security of women victims of violence, through publishing a Practical Police Guide on working with cases of violence against women and domestic violence, in co-operation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

• Supported women’s rights organisations through 6 mini-grant projects.
• Advanced Ukraine’s ability to work with victims of conflict-related sexual violence through tailored trainings and a webinar for professionals, and the development of a Manual on working with victims of sexual violence during armed conflict.
• Supported better protection of refugee, migrant and asylum-seeking women and girls, through translations of the Council of Europe recommendation on Protecting the rights of migrant, refugee and asylum seeking women and girls, and Guidance on Gender-Based Asylum Claims and Non-Refoulement: Articles 60 and 61 of the Istanbul Convention. Translations of both documents into Romanian, Slovak, Hungarian and Polish are also available on the project webpage.

The project Steering Committee members positively evaluated the effectiveness of the project and its efforts to combat violence against women and domestic violence.

The #CoeCOVAW project has run from 2021-2022. A two year Council of Europe Combating Violence against Women in Ukraine – II (COVAW-II) project will begin in January 2023 and will last two years.