Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I have received apologies from Deputy David Stanton. Our engagement today is with representatives from the United Nations Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund to discuss their work in response to the situation in Ukraine. I am particularly pleased to welcome Ms Ghita El Khyari, the head of secretariat, who is joining us via MS teams and Ms Breifní Flanagan, who is with in person and who is a policy consultant with the fund, together with their partner, Ms Olena Stryzhak from the Ukrainian civil society organisation, Positive Women, who is joining us from Ukraine via MS teams. They will be discussing with us their experience of working in response to the situation in Ukraine and are all very welcome.

I also want to mention welcome students from the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs in the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. I understand that they are engaged in summer studies abroad in UCD. I dare say that this is the first time that students from Georgia Tech have had the opportunity of attending this committee and they are also very welcome. We are more used to watching Georgia Tech on the American football fields, particularly the very exciting challenge matches we have experienced here in Dublin over the years against such luminaries as Pennsylvania State University and Boston College footballers. We hope that they have an opportunity during the their busy study schedule to take some time off to see a game of Gaelic football in Croke Park while they are here.

The format of the meeting is that we are still operating under a quasi-restrictive regime insofar as some of our members are operating from their offices through MS Teams and, as we have already adverted to, our guest witnesses, with the exception of Ms Flanagan, are also join the meeting via MS Teams. The format of the meeting then is in the usual manner. We will hear the opening statements which our witnesses wish to make followed by a discussion with questions and answers with members of the committee. I ask members, as always, to be concise in their questions to allow all members the opportunity to participate. Hopefully, we can then have a second round of questions, should members so desire and if time allows.

Witnesses and members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make that person in any way identifiable, or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of that person or entity. Therefore, if statements are in any way potentially defamatory in respect to any entity or person, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative that any such direction be complied with.

For witnesses attending remotely outside of our Leinster House campus, there are some limitations to parliamentary privilege and as such they may not benefit from the same level of immunity from legal proceedings as witnesses who are physically present might. Members are also reminded that they are only allowed to participate in this meeting if they are physically located on the Leinster House complex, that is, in offices or here in the committee chamber.

I am very pleased, therefore, to commence our proceedings by calling Ms El Khyari to make her opening statement. She will be followed by Ms Stryzhak and then we will give the floor to Ms Flanagan. I thank our witnesses.

Ms Ghita El Khyari:

I thank the Chairman very much. Good morning everybody and it is a great honour for me to speak here today. It is a great honour also to have this opportunity to share with all present the response of the United Nations Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund, alongside its civil society partners obviously, to the ongoing, devastating war in Ukraine.

The Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund, as the committee might already know, is a United Nations multi-partner trust fund which supports women-led and women's rights civil society organisations in conflict- and crisis-affected countries, with a strong and specific focus on local and grassroots civil society organisations.

I acknowledge Ireland’s continual commitment not only to the Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund but, more importantly, to our mandate in support of the women's organisations in crises that we serve. Ireland was a founding member of the Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund. Ireland was behind the creation and establishment by the United Nations of the fund and has been a consistent supporter since our launch in 2016, stepping forward once again in solidarity with women's civil society organisations in response to the escalating humanitarian crises in Ukraine and Moldova.

As the Chair said, I am joined by our partner, Ms Olena Stryzhak, from the Ukrainian civil society organisation Positive Women. She is the expert in the room and the witness to whom the committee should be listening. I will soon pass the floor to her to speak more about her organisation's work in Ukraine. I am also joined by Mr. Breifni Flanagan, my colleague at the United Nations Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund. He happens also to be a proud Irish national.

As the committee knows, the world watched on as Russia launched its unjustifiable war on Ukraine on 24 February this year. More than 100 days later, we continue to witness the devastating effects on the lives of many. As we sit here today, more than 6.5 million people have fled Ukraine and a further 8 million are internally displaced. This war, like many others, is forcing people to flee their homes to seek safety, protection and humanitarian assistance. However, the conflict in Ukraine, as has been the case in many other conflicts, is having a disproportionate effect on women and girls. Because of the nature of the war, women and girls constitute approximately 90% of all those displaced from Ukraine. They are exposed to gender-specific risks such as trafficking, sexual and gender-based violence and denial of access to essential services. We are seeing increasing numbers of reported cases of conflict-related sexual violence perpetrated by the Russian armed forced as part of its war tactics.

A recent report by UN Women and CARE International also reveals that with schools closed, high demand for volunteer work and the absence of men who are called on to fight, women’s unpaid care burden has increased significantly. Women and girls have poor access to healthcare services, especially for survivors of gender-based violence. Many respondents spoke of the challenges and barriers they face in accessing humanitarian aid and services. In a matter that is of increasing concern to all of us, approximately 50% of women and men indicated that mental health was the main area of life impacted by the war. That is no surprise. As we have learned from other conflicts, backtracking on gender equality often happens during and after a conflict. It is already evident in the ongoing crisis. The war is increasing unemployment among the entire population and will likely push women into the unprotected informal sectors of the economy and increase poverty.

Women are being pushed into new roles and multiple jobs to make up for the lost family income. They are also performing vital roles in the humanitarian response in local communities. However, despite taking on increasing leadership roles in their families and communities, women are largely excluded from formal political and administrative decision-making processes. This is something we see again and again during conflicts. It is, therefore, critical that the humanitarian response in Ukraine takes into account and addresses the different needs of women and girls. Women must be meaningfully involved in the planning and decision-making processes to make sure that their specific needs are met and that they participate as experts and key actors across the response.

As we will hear from Ms Stryzhak, women’s organisations play a critical role both during and after conflict. Positive Women is facing specific challenges in funding and recognition but remain operational nonetheless. The members of the organisation serve their communities on a daily basis. Women’s organisations lie at the heart of the response in Ukraine and supporting those organisations must be a priority. That is why the Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund is investing in the work of women civil society leaders who are yielding remarkable dividends towards a more peaceful, inclusive and gender equal societies throughout the world. As part of its emergency regional response efforts to the war in Ukraine, the Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund is ensuring vital financing and co-ordination support to local women's organisations in Ukraine and Moldova by providing core institutional funding to allow those organisations to sustain themselves and maintain their systems and operations. We also finance their programmatic activities and actions.

Through the support of donors such as Ireland and the Irish stability fund, the Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund launched a series of emergency calls for proposals to identify partners in March and April. A total of 14 civil society organisations, eight from Ukraine, including Ms Stryzhak's organisation, and six from Moldova, have been supported thus far. Through this support, women’s organisations in Ukraine and in Moldova are responding to the immediate needs of their communities by providing essential humanitarian and protection assistance to displaced women and girls, including shelter, medication and food, as well as vital psychosocial support. They are also training smaller women's groups and organisations in gender-responsive humanitarian planning and explaining how to address sexual and gender-based violence and the conflict-related sexual violence that women and girls are facing. Examples of activities include the launching of an online platform through which civil society organisations are providing psychological and legal services on conflict-related sexual violence, among other types of violence, while also raising awareness and sharing information on the issue.

I again extend our heartfelt thanks to the committee, Ireland and the Irish Government for their thought leadership in this response and for providing funding to the Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund for its response to Ukraine in a rapid and efficient way. I look forward to Ms Stryzhak's briefing and to the questions from the committee.

Ms Olena Stryzhak:

I thank the committee for the invitation. I am happy for this opportunity to tell the committee what is happening in Ukraine. From first-hand experience, I will share with the committee the information we have currently.

I live in Ukraine. I am the head of a national network of women living with HIV, Positive Women. It is a national women’s rights civil society organisation. We are a community-based organisation representing the community of women living with HIV in Ukraine and have regional representatives in 24 regions of Ukraine and in Kyiv. The goal of our organisation is to create a space for the development and self-realisation of women especially vulnerable to HIV, to unite women's initiatives, to support leadership and to promote gender equality.

On February 24, with the beginning of the Russian military invasion in Ukraine, we were faced with issues about how to provide services, how to help the women who were under the bombs and provide them with first aid. The conflict in Ukraine is disproportionately affecting women and girls, especially women from marginalised groups.

The gendered impact of the conflict in Ukraine is influenced by the unique demographic profile of the country, which includes large numbers of older women, women and girls with disabilities, internally displaced women and girls, women-headed households, stateless women and girls, and women living with HIV.

There were approximately 250,000 people living with HIV in Ukraine prior to the war, which is one of the world’s highest HIV incidence rates. Nearly 1% of Ukraine’s population lives with HIV making it one of the largest epidemics in the region; nearly half of adults living with HIV are women, with sex workers, LGBTIQ+ individuals and women who inject drugs being particularly vulnerable. Transgender women, who face obstacles in accessing healthcare and legal documentation, are marginalised based on their gender identity.

From the first days we continue to check in with our network members every day to respond to urgent needs. We have now reorganised our activities and moved from advocacy work to providing direct services for women and girls, helping in crisis with items such as food, water, formula milk, hygienic products, medicine and antiretroviral therapy. In addition, women have access to legal and psychological services.

Women and girls living with ongoing medical conditions, such as HIV, have reported to us about losing access to lifesaving services and antiretroviral therapy, which for the majority of individuals living with HIV in Ukraine, needs to be taken daily. That is why sometimes our representatives deliver the HIV-treatment inside the occupied territory with the support of drivers in bakery vans.

Support for our project was rapidly received through the United Nations Women’s Peace & Humanitarian Fund, WPHF. This emergency funding has helped us plan our activities and we are grateful for the urgent support. We were able to launch and organise temporary shelters in four regions of Ukraine that are safer today than in the regions from which women and children were evacuated. They are in Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy and Chernivtsi regions. This was an urgent need at the time and remains important today. We were able to provide access to safe spaces and to cover basic needs for food, water, clothing, hygiene products, medicines and more for women living with HIV, women from key groups vulnerable to HIV, women who use drugs, sex workers, internally displaced persons and their children.

The Women’s Peace & Humanitarian Fund has provided financial support to reorganise women's organisations and community-based organisations that provide assistance to women in the war in Ukraine, and to provide services to meet those needs in a crisis situation. Replenishment of this fund is very important for further financing of civil society organisations. Helping women who have suffered from the war and are moving from the occupied territories, territories with active bombing in particular in the east and south of the country, is support for Ukraine as a whole. Creating safe space for them and cover of vital needs will allow women and their children to stay in the country and not to go abroad. This is very important for our organisation and for local women’s organisations who are on the front lines of the response.

I hope for Ukraine's victory over the evil that hangs over the whole world.

Ms Breifn? Flanagan:

I thank Ms El Khyari and Ms Stryzhak. It is a real pleasure to speak after them but as Ms El Khyari said, it is a proud moment for me to be in the Oireachtas as an Irish person. I want to re-emphasise Ms El Khyari's point that women in civil society are the ones we should be listening to. Ireland is really committed to hearing civil society voices. We heard that at the Security Council and the WPHF wants to build on that. Today is a really good opportunity to listen to Ms Stryzhak on the Ukrainian women's needs and on what we should be supporting.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I will now turn to members and first call Deputy Clarke.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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I thank our guests. It has been rather difficult to sit and listen to them outline the crisis facing women in Ukraine and, in fact, in all areas of conflict but it is absolutely necessary that we have these conversations and that they continue outside this forum.

I could not agree more with Ms Flanagan that women's voices in civil society need to be heard but they need to be heard in other places too, namely, in the planning and decision-making process which Ms El Khyari mentioned. They need to be heard not only during conflict but after it. When conflict moves on to the period of rebuilding, women's voices need to be at the decision-making tables. We cannot condone any backtracking on gender equality in any shape or form. Lord knows, those we have made were hard won and they should not be rowed back on either through conflict or through Covid.

I will start with an issue raised by Ms El Khyari around trafficking and sexual and gender-based violence. In respect of those who are leaving Ukraine, what feedback has Ms El Khyari received on their experience of those with whom they first interact and to whom they make a disclosure of sexual violence as a weapon of war? It is an issue I am quite concerned about. We have very talented and dedicated people who work with victims of sexual abuse and violence here. However, there is another aspect to that when that sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war. It creates an additional layer of trauma that needs to be addressed with very specific and professional care to enable that person to heal fully. Then there is the question of capacity, whereby those services would be capable of taking on and meeting the very high-level needs of those who have experienced that.

On those who are internally displaced within Ukraine, Ms El Khyari spoke of the training up of smaller groups. It is a fantastic idea and something I very much welcome. It is something we need to see more of. She also mentioned the online platform for psychological and legal aspects. There is psychological support and legal support but how is the conflict impacting on those people's ability to access medical care?

Specifically on trafficking, looking into the future and family reunification for those who have been trafficked, what must be put in place now for that to be as successful as possible?

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I will take a number of questions now before reverting to Ms El Khyari and she can divide the replies between Ms Stryzhak, Ms Flanagan and herself as she sees fit.

Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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I thank our guests and welcome them to the meeting. The illegal war in Ukraine has impacted particularly strongly on women and children. It is obviously also impacting on the men who have remained in Ukraine to fight but among the more than six million who have been displaced, many are women and children. That is a particular form of barbarism and is tragedy. The committee is very much supportive of what our guests have come to promulgate.

I am happy to learn that Ireland and Australia were to the front of organising and supporting the UN Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund from the outset. Deputy Clarke's question around trafficking that could take place or may be taking place is of interest to all of us. To what extent is this happening? The question of vaccination also arises. People who are displaced may not be getting their proper sets of vaccinations against various illnesses and diseases such as the MMR vaccine. Treatment for HIV is obviously critical.

I ask the witnesses to comment further on the vaccination situation among displaced persons, the risk of trafficking and, specifically, the issues around the treatment of HIV, to which they referred. Are the funds adequate? Is this being dealt with or is there more they would suggest needs to be done now?

The witnesses can take it we in Ireland are strongly in support of a response to the displaced persons who have come to this country. We are very proud of that and it should not be otherwise. I would be interested to hear general comments on those points. It is as much a comment as questions.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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I thank our guests for coming before the committee with their presentations, which were very informative but very harrowing. Unfortunately, in all conflicts, it is the innocent who are always the real victims. In this case, everyone in Ukraine is a victim but particularly women and children, when we see that 90% of displaced people are women and children. We also see this in Ireland, where the vast majority of the 35,000 refugees who have ended up here are women and children. I know the impact that has on people in terms of trauma and separation. In these Houses, we were some of the first, if not the only ones, to recognise that genocide is taking place in Ukraine in terms of the forced separation of families, women and children from fathers back at home, trying to defend the homeland against a brutal and illegal invasion.

We know from other conflicts right across the world how instrumental women are in bringing positive benefits to conflict resolution. Unfortunately, we saw during Covid that many women were forced to pull back from those central, key positions in conflict resolution and go back into the household to deal with the impact of Covid. On top of that, we have the horrific, barbaric assault on Ukraine.

A number of points struck me. One concerns HIV, which is not an area I had given much focus to, but I really appreciate the information on the unfortunate reality of HIV in Ukraine when coupled with the invasion. One line in the presentation that struck me is that HIV treatment inside the occupied territory is taking place with the support of drivers in bakery vans. It is very stark that people who need to access HIV drugs are reliant on bakery vans to distribute something as critical and essential. I thank the witnesses for pointing that out as it is very stark.

A question stems from that. We know the number of people who have been internally and externally displaced here in Ireland and right across Europe, for example, in Romania, Moldova and Poland. I want to ask about the difficulties, particularly for women, in having their medical records transferred when they are displaced internally but particularly externally in other countries. How much of a challenge is it to get the medical reports that are needed to ensure continuity of medical care, whether it is maternity care, HIV treatment or access to drugs in other countries? I want to see how much of a problem that is or whether mechanisms have been put in place.

Unfortunately, in all wars, we also see the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. The human rights monitoring group stated in early June that there were 124 cases of alleged acts of conflict-related sexual violence across Ukraine, which is probably a low estimate, unfortunately. It is appalling. I met a number of Ukrainian Members of Parliament who are in Leinster House today and I posed a question to them on the 16,000 investigations now being looked into by the prosecutor general, of which many are acts of violence towards women. They said that one thing they need more of is female investigators to carry out the investigations into these acts of sexual violence and other acts of violence against women in Ukraine. Is that very prevalent? It was a specific need that was identified and put to us when we met the Ukrainian MPs earlier today.

Obviously, trauma is a huge issue. It was pointed out again today that refugees come in waves. The first wave of refugees to land in Ireland and other countries were those who got out of Ukraine very early, before some of the more barbaric, genocidal acts had taken place. We see subsequent waves of refugees now being displaced from southern Ukraine and eastern Ukraine who have had to endure 115 or 116 days of barbaric onslaught. I want to ask about psychological supports, on which there was a specific request. More psychological supports are needed in Ukraine to help women and children in particular. What supports are there and what additional supports are needed? What role do the witnesses see countries such as Ireland playing? While we are militarily neutral, when it comes to the political level, we are not neutral in terms of support for trauma and psychological supports. These are real tangible actions we can take to help. I would like to get a view on that.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I invite Ms El Khyari to deal with the questions.

Ms Ghita El Khyari:

I thank the members. I have identified questions about the health needs, conflict-based sexual violence and sexual and gender-based violence, and the fact we are funding smaller organisations. I would also like to touch on conflict resolution. I want to start by saying with a lot of humanity that I personally do not have an answer to all of the great questions the members have raised. I will allow Ms Stryzhak and Ms Flanagan to respond to the some of the issues. I will deal in particular with the health issue and the issue of sexual and gender-based violence. If there is anything else the members wish to address, they can jump in after that.

I will start with sexual and gender-based violence, and conflict-based sexual violence more specifically. When we announced the call for proposals for the Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund, it was centred around a few areas of work. The first was humanitarian response and the second was the issue of protection in regard to sexual and gender-based violence, conflict-related sexual violence and psychological support. The third area of work that we have been initiating and asking organisations to apply for is longer term social and economic recovery and political participation of women and girls. We have seen pretty much an equal interest in all of these areas. However, I want to flag that the issue of sexual and gender-based violence in all of these dimensions – because it has multiple dimensions in war in general and in Ukraine in particular - has been at the heart of the response of all of the partners that have applied for funding under our emergency support.

When it comes to violence against women and girls and sexual and gender-based violence, in the beginning, the issue of conflict relating to sexual violence and sexual violence abuse as a weapon of war, as mentioned by a couple of members, was not intentionally captured. As we started the implementation, we have increasingly seen this issue coming up. As members all know, this takes a long time to capture, because the stigma is doubled. Not only has the victim been a survivor sexual violence, but this been done by the opponents or enemy forces. We have seen, as members have pointed out, more and more women and girls coming out to talk about this. Yet, the phenomenon is still very much underestimated and under-documented. We need much more work on this. A few partner organisations have increasingly started investing in that issue. Other organisations have indicated that they want to contribute to the documentation of this phenomenon. This will be increasingly addressed in the future. Now, when we talk about conflict-related sexual violence, as well as the services that are provided for survivors, this has to be within the framework of larger, wider services for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in general, including within those that are not conflict-related and to which women and girls who are forcibly displaced are exposed. This is because displacement increases the threat. With that comes an aggravation of sexual violence, conflict-related sexual violence and violence used as a weapon of war. This is something that we have seen across all our partners. It is an increasing issue, and it is being addressed.

I have mentioned the online platform that one of our partners has started. Through this platform, it has started to document more and more of this. I also wanted to add that this is the case for organisations in Ukraine, as well as for organisations that we support in the neighbouring country of Moldova, which has been providing services for the incoming refugees from Ukraine, have expressed the same needs and issues around implementation.

I will let Ms Stryzhak speak about the health issues. She has expertise in that area, and I do not have anything else to add to that. I will comment very quickly on the decision-making part. For us, at the UN Women’s Peace & Humanitarian Fund, we support and focus on local women’s organisations not only because we think it is fair, because they deserve the money and because women need to be supported, but also because those organisations have the outreach. They know the communities, they know their constituencies, they know where the needs are and they have the capacity to quickly react to and intervene in emergency settings. This is something we have seen in this particular crisis. The board of the fund approved the response in March. We already have 14 partners and they have been doing a lot of great work on the ground. That is because of their unique positioning in knowing the needs and having access to the communities. That also goes with a lack of implication in and involvement in decision-making. That is the case in the humanitarian response in general. We, therefore, also need to see women as decision makers in the humanitarian response and not only as the beneficiaries of the humanitarian response. That shift needs to be made. More globally, if and when there is any kind of political process in terms of conflict resolution made at community level or at the more national and formal level, there will be a need at any point to be able to support women’s participation in those processes. Whatever they are, and this is not to pre-empt any kind of political solution to this, wherever the discussions are, women need to be at the table. This is also something that the fund is very much involved in.

There was also a question on the funding. The capitalisation level of the fund overall, and this figure is beyond Ukraine and Moldova, is now at $100 million. That figure is since we started in 2015. For the response in Ukraine right now, with the support of the donors, of which Ireland is one, and Canada and Germany are the others, we have reached around $10 million that we are still in the process of distributing to local women’s organisations. I will hand over to Ms Stryzhak for her insights.

Ms Olena Stryzhak:

I thank the Chair for giving me the floor. To be honest, I heard many questions, but I will address the ones that I can answer and that I can respond to. First, I agree with what was said about how now in Ukraine all people are under violence. This is true even for those who can apply to get help. They are also in violence. For example, there are women, girls and people who are HIV positive and who are going abroad as refugees. We can help these women who apply to us from other countries. It is true that they are afraid to go to doctors and medical centres. They are scared that people will discriminate against them. They may not have the power and energy to apply to doctors. When they come from Ukraine, they do not feel so good and are upset. We, therefore, use our consultants who also go abroad or those who can give them support and consultation. It works in different countries. Community organisations that work in your country give you the information about how you can make appointments with doctors, and information on where there are centres and places where people help women first of all. This is because in the main, 90% of refugees are women. They can go there to get help and treatment.

On the issue of sexual violence, I now see cases of families. This is fresh information from last week. Someone applied to me and asked about giving interviews to women or girls who were raped by Russian troops. They said they need interviews so that they can know some information of these cases. No one agreed to even do an interview. We are talking about helping, but this is a hard situation. Girls from families are closed off and do not want to be in touch. It might be the case that this happens the first time, and maybe in the future we can give them support, psychological support and consultation. However, now, this is so fresh. It is so tragic and causes so much trauma.

That is why we are helping. We are responsible for the supply we have for girls and women. When they came into shelters from this region, as I mentioned, from eastern and southern parts to western parts of Ukraine and the centre, they started to talk after some time, and even to get support from our side.

Within the country, we continue to deliver our services and to organise places where women can get medical care or even support for pregnancy, but it is changing. We have an even bigger level of stigma and discrimination in the western part of Ukraine. People are moving from the eastern part, where stigma and discrimination is at a lower level. When they move to the western part, we work with medical staff and personnel to explain to them and to support them. We provide social supports. We go to the medical centres and to the places where they live to deliver medicine and other basic needs. We are dealing with urgent needs, but in future we will have audits. We need to be ready to do them and to prevent cases of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. That is why it is really a big issue, which we continue to resolve, but sometimes we cannot help in time because women are not ready to get help because there are so many trauma cases.

Ms Ghita El Khyari:

Could I add one further brief point?

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Yes, please do.

Ms Ghita El Khyari:

I thank Ms Stryzhak for those insights. When it comes to conflict-related sexual violence, the fund also leverages the global nature of our interventions. We all know that conflict-related sexual violence is something that is, unfortunately, used in many war and conflict contexts. As the fund is present in more than 26 countries, we are also trying to draw experiences from other settings. I am thinking of the obvious one, which is the Democratic Republic of Congo and the foundation of Dr. Mukwege, but there are also other contexts where this kind of support has been provided. As Ms Stryzhak mentioned, it is hard for the survivors, but even for the people who are trying to extend the help in terms of being able to provide the adequate response when these are cases that they have never been confronted with in the past. The fund, from that perspective, has the expertise and the kind of leverage due to its global nature to allow those type of exchanges as well.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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On that point, could I ask Ms El Khyari to elaborate and concentrate on the criminal justice aspect of matters? We all know, for example, that it is many years since United Nations Resolution 1820 was passed, which specifically categorises sexual violence and rape as war crimes - crimes against humanity. Acknowledging what Ms Stryzhak has said, in so far as the strength and organisation of many of the women's groups in Ukraine seem to be substantially advanced in comparison with, perhaps, other parts of the world that are embroiled in conflict - I think in particular of Syria, parts of Africa and Afghanistan. Could Ms Stryzhak elaborate on the situation in Ukraine in respect of sexual violence at the hands of Russian forces? It seems that prosecutions are few and far between and that convictions are even more rare in terms of process. Deputy Brady quite rightly adverted to the need for psychological support for victims, but from our engagement with Ukrainian MPs, there seem to be some gaps in the system, for example, expertise in the matter of evidence taking. The police service in Ukraine must be somewhat overwhelmed in terms of its role, function and duty. I wonder about the possibility of international expertise in evidence taking to assist in prosecution to ensure there is perhaps an element of legal expertise present? Could countries such as Ireland assist? From what has been said, it seems that it is a matter of funding. It appears that there is more than just funding involved, however, because there is also the question of expertise and the extent to which the international community might assist in the matter of prosecution and the investigation or characterisation and determination of war crimes. Has there been any call from the prosecution services for international assistance to provide the expertise, and could a country such as Ireland assist in that regard?

Ms Ghita El Khyari:

This goes a little bit beyond the mandate of the Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund, which is to support women's organisations in crisis settings. From our angle, what we do is to support the women's organisations that want to engage in supporting the overall process of documenting the conflict-related sexual violence and sexual violence as a weapon of war and, in addition, we link service providers to the global processes of prosecution, as the Chairman mentioned.

What we focus on - I can get back to others later - is supporting the grassroots efforts from the civil society organisations and the women's organisations that are providing support to the survivors, first, to identify those cases as what they are and qualified as such, not regular sexual or gender-based violence, document that and then link it to another process that is supported by the United Nations but also member states. There is definitely space for Ireland to provide support in that respect.

UN Women, which is the UN entity for gender, equality and the empowerment of women, has also deployed an expert on conflict-related sexual violence to join the fact-finding mission with the UNCHR to start that process of documentation. There are also some bilateral efforts from some member states to send experts on war crimes in general on site, in this case on conflict-related sexual violence but also other types of war crimes. I agree that it is not only a matter of funding, it is a matter of accountability and expertise but, from our perspective, our role in this big picture is to connect those dots and to support local efforts in terms of how the service providers and the women's organisations identify the cases and feed them into the global justice process that follows in terms of accountability and prosecution.

I hope this answers the question.

Ms Olena Stryzhak:

I support what Ms El Khyari has said. My organisation is also involved in all of these processes. Every day we are in touch with women who apply to us. Not all fully disclose what happened in the places they come from. After a time they are ready to share this information with us. Our mandate is to support them and give them full information about where and how they can have an opportunity to talk and to get support, medical and psychological care. We pay attention to these cases. For me they are very important because I understand how traumatic they are. I want those who did what was done to take responsibility. We should do this slowly and softly because the situations are tragic and traumatic. We have information on how to do this from the UN but we cannot give clear instructions. In Ukraine the governance structures of many cities and places have been destroyed and are not working as they did. Some government organisations and clinics have difficulties. We do not have normal lives now. We had been developing as a country but structures and places have now been destroyed and we are trying to reorganise our lives. I agree with what has been said. It is very important to have help and the benefit of experience. We are building the structures for this support.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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If members have nothing more to add I suggest we bring matters to a conclusion. I ask Ms Flanagan to give the committee a final message before coming back to Ms El Khyari. I thank the witnesses for this very important engagement this afternoon.

Ms Breifn? Flanagan:

To answer the question on how a country such as Ireland can provide support and what it can do, it is to continue to be a leader on this. It is not only about funding but also about advocacy. Ireland is in many places where it can speak and have its voice heard to advocate for the support of local women's civil society organisations which, as we have seen, garner long-term results. They know best the needs of their communities. It is best for Ireland to make these connections and showcase the importance of supporting organisations such as the UN Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I thank Ms Flanagan. I acknowledge the active contribution of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Irish stability fund and other groups in ensuring Ireland continues to make its mark on the support of international donors. Unfortunately, as we all know, war impacts in an horrific and disproportionate way on women and girls. This is why the engagement this afternoon is important for us as we prepare our reports for the Department of Foreign Affairs in respect of our national spending Estimates for next year. I ask Ms El Khyari for a final message by way of summing up after which I will bring matters to a conclusion. I remind members we have business to do in private session.

Ms Ghita El Khyari:

I thank the Chair. I want to reinforce what Ms Flanagan has just said. Ireland's support has been instrumental and not only in terms of funding. The funding has also been important because it has been catalytic. Ireland has always invested in this funding in a catalytic manner. By this I mean that the investment we have received from the Irish stability fund has allowed us to start the work and then attract additional resources from other donors. This is very important for us because it has opened doors and allowed us to be very quick and rapid in our response.

Ireland has been a champion of bringing the voices of women into many fora. This goes beyond funding. It is about amplifying the voices of women's organisations in conflict crisis settings. This has been particularly the case when Ireland serves as a member of the Security Council. It has been a champion of bringing civil society people to brief the Security Council chamber. It has set a strong precedent for all members of the Security Council. We hope it will serve as an example for other presidencies of the Security Council to include women as civil society briefers in the Security Council chamber and shift the paradigm away from women being victims of war towards being peacemakers, peace builders and humanitarian responders, which is what we try to do with the UN Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund. I thank the Chair and all of the committee members.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I thank all of the witnesses. On behalf of the joint committee I express our appreciation for this meeting and for the witnesses taking the time to brief the committee and deal with members' questions in the most comprehensive way. I wish them success in the very challenging and difficult endeavours they face now and will face in future.