The fourth Steering Committee meeting of the project “Preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence in Ukraine” was held in Kyiv on 29 October 2015. The meeting was chaired by Oleksandr Kulyk, Head of Unit on Prevention of Domestic Violence, Deputy Head of the Department on Family, Gender Policy and Human Trafficking at the Ministry of Social Policy.

The meeting gathered representatives of the main project partners, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the General Prosecutor Office, the State Court Administration, and the State Statistic Service. Representatives from the Supreme Court of Ukraine and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) also attended the event.

The Council of Europe was represented by the Project team, who presented the project activities for the period March - October 2015. The participants appreciated the results achieved to date by the project and praised the Council of Europe for its efforts and SIDA for its support.

The Action Plan for the no-cost extension covering the period March - August 2016 was also presented to the Steering Committee members who approved the proposed activities. In the forthcoming months, the project will devote efforts to the ratification of the Istanbul Convention by Ukraine and the improvement of the local agency co-operation for an integrated response to victims of violence against women and domestic violence.