“All our thoughts are about ensuring the safety of women, girls and vulnerable people in Ukraine,” says Iulia Kharashvili, Chair of the women’s association Consent in Georgia

Iulia Kharashivili chairs the women’s association for internally displaced people Consent in Georgia, which currently acts as the Secretariat for the regional Women’s Peace Dialogue Platform (WPDP). As such, it is an implementing partner of the OSCE project WIN – Women and Men Networking for Gender Equality. Dedicated to building capacity and leadership skills for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, the WPDP unites women’s organizations from 12 post-Soviet countries. When Russia launched its military attack against Ukraine, they immediately mobilized their financial and networking resources to support women’s organizations in the country.

Which women’s organizations does WPDP support under the OSCE’s WIN project?

We support the Mariupol women’s association Berehynia, a member of the WPDP. The staff of this organization were evacuated from Mariupol on 17 March and are now working from Dnipro. At first, we sent money and now we also provide humanitarian aid packages with medicines that are difficult or expensive to procure in Ukraine. Secondly, we support Gender Rada, based in Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine. With the funds provided by the OSCE project, they are providing 40 internally displaced families from Chernihiv, one of the Ukrainian cities most affected by the ongoing hostilities, with food, medicine, personal hygiene items and other necessities.

The third organization is Stantsiia Kharkiv, led by outstanding women who have been working with internally displaced persons in Ukraine since 2014. It provides food and supplies, especially for women and children in Kharkiv, the city in eastern Ukraine which has experienced some of the most intense violence and destruction during Russia’s military attack.

At the same time, we also make sure that we have enough resources to continue our work in other countries in the WPDP area of responsibility. We must not forget that as the terrible crisis rages in Ukraine, there are also protracted conflicts that can still escalate: the tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan; periodic clashes between communities located near borders in Central Asia, and; the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The women in countries with protracted conflicts require our continued attention.

Beyond immediate humanitarian aid, what further support do women and girls require?

One very important thing to be done immediately, together with providing humanitarian assistance, is to start planning for early recovery. We need to do it now and not wait until after the conflict ends. We need to lay the foundation that will allow women, when the war is over, to start talking about sustainable peace.

It is difficult to talk about peace at this particular moment; sometimes you have to rename things. Instead of “peace” we can say “resistance” or “safety and security” or “sustainable livelihood”. For me, “early recovery” is the best word now. We need to encourage people and give them a reason to look forward to the future with hope. Only then can they recover from the war, both physically and psychologically, and only then you can talk about sustainable peace, but not before.

This is why we need to initiate not only projects on providing humanitarian aid, but also practical projects: to organize small kindergartens, for example, and teach volunteers how to work with conflict-affected children. We also need to ask women what they need, because they know best what communities require. This advice comes from our years of post-conflict experience in Georgia. Women need to have the opportunity to conduct projects, and to connect with local authorities, so that in the future they will have a say in the rehabilitation of their communities.

Our second proposal is more ambitious: the promotion of women’s political participation. People may say this is not the right time to talk about women’s participation. But it is always the time to talk about it. Looking at the reports of massive violence against women and children, we believe that the negotiations between the sides need to focus also on the prevention of violence. And women should be involved in this discussion. It will be a difficult task to get agreement from the sides on this. Because up until now most negotiators and decision-makers were men. And here we think the OSCE can play a role.

In a situation like the one we have today in Ukraine, we need to make maximum use of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, to advocate for women’s participation at all levels. We need to work with communities, the military, and with the authorities. People need to understand that when you speak about Women, Peace and Security you are talking mainly about human security.

What is your vision of the OSCE’s role in implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda in Ukraine?

We believe that OSCE should be more involved. It has enormous technical expertise, it has extremely dedicated experts in gender issues and conflict prevention. The Organization should mobilize all of its resources, its large roster of international experts, and its platform for women mediators, for all kinds of bilateral and multilateral co-operation, to achieve progress. Progress is urgently needed as more people are killed every day.

We need to find a way to protect women and girls, also in the occupied regions, from violence. This will not be possible without international facilitation. The OSCE has a role to play because both the Russian Federation and Ukraine are participating States. We need to mobilize the international community in support of the core values of the Helsinki Final Act, in line with the OSCE comprehensive security approach, which always includes the human dimension. This is something the OSCE can do and has the full right to do.

We need to ensure the safety and security of the women, girls and vulnerable people in Ukraine, first and foremost. All our thoughts are about this.

The Georgian writer Guram Odisharia once said that war comes like a wild animal, with huge leaps, while peace comes with the short steps of a small child. You need to care for this child, constantly, if you want it to have the opportunity to grow.