“Our strength is in building networks”: an event dedicated to the Day of Protection for Women Human Rights Defenders took place in Kyiv

On November 29, 2024, the Crimean House in Kyiv hosted the event “Women in Defence of Human Rights”, organised by the Human Rights House Crimea and the Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv with the support of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA and the European Union. The event was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the International Network of Human Rights Houses and the Day of Protection of Women Human Rights Defenders, which is celebrated on November 29.

Photo: Artem Halkin

Women human rights defenders play a key role in protecting human rights, supporting affected communities and documenting war crimes. The event became a platform for sharing experiences, finding answers to challenges and cooperation between NGOs, the media and the international community.

The role of women in human rights protection during the war

Within the framework of the event, a thematic discussion “The Role of Women Human Rights Defenders in the Current Ukrainian Realities of Russia’s Armed Aggression against Ukraine” was held, during which the speakers shared their personal stories and experience of human rights activities.

Photo: Artem Halkin

Tetiana Pechonchyk, Head of the Board of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA, spoke about her observations over the past 10 years: “I am amazed at the capabilities and ability of Ukrainians to network. I want to return to 10-11 years ago, to Euromaidan, where hundreds of thousands of people on Maidan, which looked like a huge anthill, acted as one mechanism and knew exactly what to do. In the same way, human rights defenders as a part of society are capable of incredibly fast self-organisation and networking in response to the challenges we face. This synergy became critically important for civil society organisations in 2022 when we started documenting war crimes.“

Daria Svyrydova (with a microphone) and Tetiana Pechonchyk. Photo: Artem Halkin (photo)

The Head of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA also spoke about the new challenges that had to be overcome after the start of the full-scale invasion.

“At that time, our organisation grew very quickly – from 20 to 40 people. It was 2022, shelling, no electricity and no communication. It reminded me of a plane, where our organisation is a plane, I am a pilot and we are in terrible turbulence, it is thrown into air pockets, the power goes out, and we fly by instruments, while 100% of the passengers are on board. It wasn’t easy,” said Tetiana Pechonchyk.

She also added: “Four members of our team are currently in the Ukrainian armed forces, and Maksym Butkevych, co-founder and board member of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA, spent two years and four months in captivity and was fortunately released recently“.

Valentyna Potapova, Head of National Advocacy at the Center for Civic Education Almenda, stressed the importance of human rights protection for building civil society: “For me, the war began in 2014. I dedicated my life to education and did not plan anything else. I never considered myself a human rights defender. But 2014 changed everything, and gradually I began to realise that I was engaged in human rights defence because we are trying to inform the public about the role of human rights in building civil society“.

Valentyna Potapova. Photo: Artem Halkin

Oleksandra Romantsova, Executive Director of the Center for Civil Liberties, drew attention to the importance of international advocacy, which did not work in 2014 but yielded results after February 24, 2022: “We joined the galaxy of women who started talking about the situation in Ukraine to the international community. But in fact, we had been saying everything since 2014, and it made us very angry that we were heard only after 2022.“

Oleksandra Romantsova and Olha Skrypnyk. Photo: Artem Halkin

Daria Svyrydova, Expert of the Ukraine 5AM Coalition, Partner of the AZONES law firm, Yuliia Kishenko, Coordinator of Educational Programmes of the CF EAST-SOS and wife of a military man, Yuliia Krasilnykova, Executive Director of the CF EAST-SOS, and Olha Skrypnyk, Head of the Board of the Crimean Human Rights Group.

“Women human rights defenders are really the driving force. There is a revolution in Ukraine with a female face. The strength of Ukraine is in women,” said Olha Skrypnyk.

Olha Skrypnyk, Yuliia Krasilnykova, Daria Svyrydova, and Tetiana Pechonchyk. Photo: Artem Halkin

About strength and inspiration

The discussion also focused on the psychological resilience of human rights defenders. The speakers shared what skills they had acquired during the war and where they got the strength to continue their fight.

In the end, the human rights defenders told us what inspires them: their families, words of gratitude from those they helped, citizens released from Russian captivity, and those who left the occupation.

Photo: Artem Halkin

The event included the presentation of the methodological guide Understanding the Principles and Standards for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders: Human Rights Defenders in Extreme Situations and the photo exhibition Portraits of Strength, prepared by the Human Rights House Foundation for the 30th anniversary of the International Network of Human Rights Houses. In addition to the photo exhibition for 2024, portraits of individual Ukrainian women human rights defenders – the heroes of the photo exhibitions of 2020 and 2014 were presented.

The event was held with the support of the European Union.

Photo: Artem Halkin