In its newly published baseline evaluation report the Council of Europe Group of experts on action against violence against women and domestic violence (GREVIO) has praised Ukraine’s strong political will to implement the Istanbul Convention and the steps taken to protect women from violence, despite the immense challenges posed by Russia’s war of aggression. The report also explains the many ways in which women’s exposure to gender-based violence has multiplied as a result of the war. GREVIO’s findings reflected in this report are based on the contributions from the authorities, non-governmental organisations and an evaluation visit to Kyiv in May 2025.
Large population displacements, security concerns for professionals responding to violence against women in the field, limited human and financial resources, and the many obstacles in delivering services to groups affected by the war put a strain on the authorities’ ability to prevent and combat violence. GREVIO stresses the need for robust measures to ensure the safety of women and girls from conflict-related sexual violence – and from forms of violence, such as domestic violence, that manifest differently or more profoundly during times of conflict.
Improved laws, more protection for victims, training of professionals
The Ukrainian authorities had already started taking measures to better align legislation with the Istanbul Convention before ratification with the adoption in 2017 of the Law on preventing and combating domestic violence.
Important legislative developments have since taken place: Ukraine adopted a consent-based definition of rape and sexual harassment was made an offence in 2024; measures were also taken to combat gender inequality, a root cause of violence against women, including through education. The report also praises the strong cooperation of state actors with women’s rights organisations to support women who are victims of violence.
Other positive developments include the availability of around 700 mobile teams composed of psychologists, social workers and healthcare professionals, directly helping victims of domestic violence, especially in rural areas. The setting up of the National Training Centre for gender-based violence response to improve the skills of professionals working with victims is another promising development.
The report also praises the comprehensive efforts by the authorities since the beginning of the war, supported by international partners, to provide extensive training to police officers, prosecutors and forensic experts and to equip them with state-of-the-art technical and legal skills for the effective prosecution of conflict-related sexual violence. It stresses that these steps are important to hold perpetrators accountable and to support victims.
The report also underlines the wide-ranging efforts made to ensure that the Ukrainian military offers sufficient protection from and reporting channels for incidents of gender-based violence, including sexual harassment, against its female personnel (approximately 70,000 women are serving). Moreover, GREVIO welcomes the awareness demonstrated by the authorities of the war’s impact on the frequency and severity with which women experience domestic violence, and the measures taken to prepare military personnel for their return to civilian life and to reduce the risk of domestic violence.
Further action needed to improve the response to violence against women
Despite the many positive developments, the report highlights the need to ensure that the Istanbul Convention is consistently implemented throughout the country and that it addresses all forms of violence against women covered by the Istanbul Convention, beyond domestic violence. GREVIO also calls for more measures to increase public awareness of the different manifestations of violence, as well as to reduce the stigma experienced by women who are victims of violence, including victims of conflict-related sexual violence at the hands of Russian soldiers. It also points to the increasing connection that is being made between active military service and the perpetration of severe domestic violence in Ukraine, the difficulties women face when reporting such violence, and calls for addressing this issue.
The report highlights other steps that should be taken to improve the criminal-justice response to violence against women. These include the imposition of sentences for offences of domestic violence and other forms of violence against women that are effective, proportionate and dissuasive, to ensure accountability of perpetrators of violence against women. Indeed, GREVIO is concerned by the fact that sentences are generally lenient and often limited to a fine and community service.
The report also underlines the lack of protection afforded to children exposed to domestic violence as their presence is not systematically recorded in situations of domestic violence, as well as shortages in the provision of psychological help to them. Furthermore, improvements are required in the area of civil law, the report says, to ensure that the authorities fully take into consideration incidents of domestic violence when deciding on custody rights.
How is the Council of Europe supporting Ukraine in a time of conflict
