Ukraine and the Recent Call for Democracy's Impact on Women's Human Rights: An Interview with Olena Suslova

The following interview with Olena Suslova of the Women’s Information Consultative Center in Ukraine appeared on WHRnet. Suslova is the founder and coordinator of the OSI Network Women's Programs' Empowering Education program.

WHRnet: Please tell us a bit about yourself, and your current work in the region, and its relevance for women's human rights.

Olena Suslova: My name is Olena Suslova and I am the founder and Chair of the Board of the Women's Information Consultative Center (WICC). Registered in 1995, WICC is one of oldest NGOs in Ukraine. Our two main areas of activity are informing and educating.

For Ukraine, we are unique in that we have a library of about 2000 books on women, gender and the so called "third sector"—NGOs. It is openly accessible and used by a wide range of students, professionals, researchers, etc.

In addition to the resource center, in 1996 my colleagues and I also started the Empowering Education Program, which is now a phenomenon in 16 countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Burma, Georgia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, the USA, and Uzbekistan. In 10 of these countries (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan) the program is active and effective.

Empowering Education is an educational process based on the principles of gender justice and nonviolence, aimed at creating conditions for acquiring skills of group self-organization by learning through experience. To find out more please visit our web site which is in Ukrainian, Russian, and English: http://empedu.civicua.org.

WHRnet: What are the emerging and persistent issues most affecting women in Ukraine, and the region more broadly?

OS: Ukraine is not unlike the rest of the world; the same trends and tendencies gaining momentum around the world are also reflected in our region. The region in general is seeing increased tension around freedoms and civil society, which have had immediate impacts on women's freedoms and women's rights. For example, in Uzbekistan after the total re-registration of international funds in early 2004, the government requested that women's NGOs re-register forcing them

• to be re-registered as non-women;
• not to be re-registered at all; or
• to be re-registered as a women's organization but to fall under the governmental Council of Women.

Bank accounts were blocked at the beginning of the year, stopping these organizations' activities and coercing action.

Under Belarus and Turkmenistan's dictatorial regimes, NGOs as a whole and women's NGOs in particular must meet under different auspices. For example, they name trainings "women's tea clubs" (Belarus) or they hide their activism under the auspices of work or professional development (Turkmenistan).

This is about their political rights.

In terms of social rights, the emerging and persistent issues for women in Ukraine and the region continue to be employment and poverty. "Women continue to be the face of poverty" as we say here in Ukraine.

While we may not have the "hard and mass violations of women's rights" in Ukraine, women's human rights violations persist. Violence, trafficking of women, and low political participation are issues faced by women daily.

WHRnet: How will the new atmosphere of civic responsibility, and the call for democracy impact on women's human rights?

OS: As the American Civil Liberties Union says: to have freedom is to watch it continually. This has never been more true for Ukraine.

The orange revolution in Ukraine woke up a nation, and now, civil society must work diligently to monitor the gains that have been hard won. The women's movement in Ukraine was not at its best before the revolution. It was not united. As a result it did not actively influence governmental structures (although we had some success at this level). Moreover, there are so many professional women's organization and women activists that can mobilize and further democratic development in the country.

The challenge for all of us is how we use this opportunity.

WHRnet: Specifically, in what ways are the new government's policies, values, programs considering women in Ukraine? How does this differ from past governments?

OS: It is symbolic that the day after the Central Voting Committee announced the new Ukrainian President, the Ukrainian Parliament supported the first hearing of the Law on Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities. This is a good sign, but it is not yet a good action. Until we have a confirmed new government, it is difficult to speculate on its actual next steps.

The candidate Yushenko's program is still traditional and patriarchal. He speaks of motherhood and family protection in very "old" terms. The Orange Revolution's discourse was also full of masculinity like "bravery" and "courage." In Ukrainian these words use at their root "man" and more specifically "virility."

Even though women actively participated in the Orange Revolution, their roles were mainly accessorial (food, medicine, etc.).

I have collected over 30 oral stories of "orange revolutionists," both women and men, for a research project on the gendered cultural feasibility of nonviolence ethics in practice in the Orange Revolution. This could be interesting to more than Ukrainians; it could provide insight for countries in similar transitions, and for peace researchers more generally.

WHRnet: What steps should this new government take in the short, medium, and longer term to truly change the experiences of women on the ground?

OS: In terms of long-term goals, the new government has to change its approach from paternalism and protectionism to a vision of equality.

But I do not want to talk details just yet. Let us see...

WHRnet: What type of support or work do you see appropriate and necessary from the international women's human rights community?

OS: I would like to take this opportunity to thank ALL SISTERS around the world who have supported us during these days with their warm words and wishes.

Interestingly, as a strong anti-communist, in the past I have never used the word "solidarity." The Orange Revolution has taught me how to "deconstruct" this word. I now think that global sisterhood is not just a "sexy term" for huge international events or grant proposals. It really means to practice support. We all need this support regularly.

We in Ukraine need this support now and so do our sisters from the region with more difficult situations.

One last point: during all of its transition Ukraine has been somewhat of an "empty space" for civil society organizations and their funders. Donors primarily worked on "the well-being and prospective" countries of Central and Eastern Europe or in the conflict area areas. Maybe "dormant" Ukraine was not so interesting? We are 48 million and we are not dormant any longer—Ukraine is alive and awake!

Copyright © 2005 by WHRnet. Reprinted with permission.