Kyiv, 3 June 2020  – The City Council of the conflict-affected city of Rubizhne in Luhansk Oblast has become the first city in the country to adopt a local programme with the aim of preventing sexual violence and sexual harassment in public spaces and creating a safe and sustainable city.

The programme, called “Rubizhne – Safe City” is based on UN Women’s “Safe City and Safe Public Spaces for Women and Girls” global initiative, and is being implemented under the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme.

Around the world, over 50 cities have launched comprehensive programmes under the UN Women initiative to strengthen laws and policies to prevent and respond to sexual harassment, adopt urban and transport plans inclusive of women’s and men’s needs, and implement initiatives aiming to change gender-biased social norms.

Anatoliy Busenkov, the acting mayor of Rubizhne said that "based on the findings of the Scoping Study and the Safety Audit conducted in Rubizhne, the City Council organized consultations with civil society and established a working group to develop a local  programme ‘Rubizhne – safe city’ for 2020-2022 on preventing sexual violence and sexual harassment against women and girls in public spaces.”

"The program was recently adopted and now we are ready to start implementing the programme," Busenkov added. "I hope that Rubizhne will serve as an example, and other cities in Ukraine will consider adopting similar programs addressing the safety needs of women and girls.”

Media enquiries

Olga Chernyshova, National Consultant on Gender Equality, Women’s Empowerment, Communication and Advocacy, UN Women, UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, olga.chernyshova@unwomen.org, +380 98 971 5565

Background

The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP) is being implemented by four United Nations agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Twelve international partners support the Programme: the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.