A delegation of MPs from the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine participated in the Global Network of Women Legislators in Defence, Security and Peace Portfolios (WLID) events in Singapore, dedicated to sharing experiences among parliamentarians from Canada, Australia, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Halyna Mykhailiuk, Deputy Chair of the Committee on Law Enforcement, Anastasiya Radina, Chair of the Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy, and Yuliya Svitlychna, MP, represented Ukraine at the event.
Ukrainian women parliamentarians took part in several strategic discussions, in addition to various panels dedicated to the challenges they face in their professional work: the following topics were discussed:
- the role of women parliamentarians in conflict resolution and post-conflict processes;
- the importance of participation in decision-making processes, in particular in peace negotiations, etc.;
- disinformation campaigns and their impact on women parliamentarians;
- codes of ethics in parliaments and mechanisms to promote gender equality.
The MPs spoke about the peculiarities of the work of the Verkhovna Rada during the martial law regime in Ukraine, based on the materials of a study prepared by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives as part of the Parliamentary Accountability for the Security Sector in Ukraine (PASS Ukraine) project. It examines such aspects as changes in the lives of MPs after the full-scale invasion, gender differences and gender equality in parliament in the face of current challenges, changes in the work of the Verkhovna Rada and legislative activity during martial law.
It is particularly important to share the extraordinary experience of the Ukrainian Parliament in order to deepen inter-parliamentary cooperation and to better understand the context in which Ukraine lives and in which Ukrainian democracy functions, given the global challenges facing the country as a whole and the personal stories and professional challenges faced by parliamentarians.
Context
The Global Network of Women Legislators in Defence, Security and Peace (WLID) is a platform for mutual support among women parliamentarians with the aim of removing obstacles to their participation in decision-making, particularly in the areas of security, defence and peacekeeping.
The event was held within the framework of cooperation between the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, the Parliamentary Centre (Canada) and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada with the financial support of Global Affairs Canada.
