The NESEHNUTÍ association will help Ukrainian women heal the wounds caused by the Russian invasion. The organisation is preparing support for Ukrainian survivors of sexual violence. Photo credit: Freepik
Czech Republic, 9 June (BD) – Shocking reports of sexual violence perpetrated by Russian soldiers in occupied areas of Ukraine have prompted NESEHNUTÍ to expand its existing civil society-focused support for Ukraine to include assistance for all survivors of rape and sexual assault. NESHNUTÍ is now starting to work with four Ukrainian organisations to provide secondary psychological and medical assistance to survivors of sexual violence.
Together with partner organisations and volunteer initiatives from Ukraine, NESEHNUTÍ intends to help survivors who have been indelibly affected by the Russian invasion. Documented cases of sexual violence by Russian soldiers include attacks on seniors, teenagers and children. NESEHNUTI will provide financial and material support to Ukrainian organisations that focus on various forms of medical, psychological and therapeutic assistance to everyone affected.
The support of NESEHNUTÍ and Ukrainian organisations will focus in particular on the regions around Kiev and in western Ukraine, where large numbers of people have been fleeing for several months from occupied areas and conflict zones. Assistance to survivors of sexual violence is also needed in the Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions, where people are fleeing from Mariupol and also from the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.
“The support of organisations that help survivors of sexual violence is all the more needed because these people in Ukraine often face secondary victimisation and statements such as: a decent woman does not become a victim of rape,” said NESEHNUTÍ spokesperson Marek Hadrbolec. “Blaming survivors for sharing the blame for their rape leads many of them to try to remain anonymous and often conceal their traumas. With our partner organisations, we want to prevent this deepening of the effects of sexual violence.”
NESEHNUTÍ’s assistance to Ukrainian survivors of sexual violence was kick-started by donations collected by fundraiser Vít Samek, as well as a contribution from the Liberal Institute from their humanitarian aid fund Operation Sour. Samek first used the funds to purchase post-coital contraceptives, but as these products are already widely available in Ukraine, it was mutually agreed that the money will be used to provide what Ukrainian women lack – professional psychological and therapeutic care.
NESEHNUTÍ has been operating in Ukraine since 2014, and during that time they have established partnerships with many local organisations, providing support in building a robust civil society. The aim is to help independent journalists who report on political repression and human rights violations; the organisation supports investigative media that bring corruption to light and expose power interests, and works with human rights defenders to monitor violations. Their partners also include local citizen associations dealing with environmental protection, assistance to victims of domestic violence, transparency of public procurement and care for orphans.
Members of the public can now join in assisting the survivors of sexual violence in Ukraine through the NESEHNUTÍ collection on the online donation platform, Darujme.cz.
