“The conditions RF holding Ukrainian journalists in some of the most brutal in the world,” Lina Kushch in New York

Arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances of female journalists were discussed at a roundtable in New York during the 70^th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

In the context of the ongoing war, the biggest challenges for Ukrainian female journalists are related to security, power and heating outages, as well as personnel problems due to the mobilization of men and migration, emphasized Lina Kushch, the First Secretary of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), speaking at the event.

“I remember how in 2022 we conducted a survey among women journalists about the main threats to their safety. It was a time when there was a shortage of bulletproof vests and helmets for work in the frontline zone,” Lina Kushch recalled. “And we expected women to say: we have no protection; we risk being killed or injured. But the results shocked us, because the journalists put another threat in first place. This is the threat of being captured by the russians or raped during the occupation by the russian military. And this fear turned out to be greater than the fear of being killed without a bulletproof vest.

Now, four years later, the Ukrainian media community knows much more about russian war crimes against female journalists. Kidnapping, imprisonment, lack of access to legal protection or medical care, threats, physical and psychological violence – all these actions grossly violate both the Geneva Conventions and basic human rights standards. What is especially dangerous is that women face additional gender-based risks and isolation.

In this context, Lina Kushch recalled the case of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchina. She was only 27 when she went to the temporarily occupied territory in southern Ukraine to cover the lives of Ukrainians living there.

“When Victoria disappeared, we were in touch with her family. Her relatives managed to get sparse messages in which the journalist spoke about the harsh conditions of detention. We learned what these conditions were after Victoria’s death,” noted Lina Kushch. “The NUJU demands an independent international investigation into the death of journalist Victoria Roshchina in russian captivity and criminal punishment of russian officials involved in the persecution of Ukrainian journalists.”

The advocacy event during the 70^th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women was organized by the NUJU together with the Numo, Sestry! non-governmental organization in partnership with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), PEN America and the EU Delegation to the UN.

Among the colleagues who shared important testimonies were the released journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko, the editor of RIA-Pivden Svitlana Zalizetska, the first secretary of NUJU Lina Kushch, and the human rights activist Liudmyla Huseinova. Their stories evoked tears of sympathy and indignation at the actions of the occupiers. Lina Kushch and Liudmyla Huseinova’s participation in this year’s session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women was made possible thanks to the support of the Ukrainian Women’s Fund.

NUJU Information Service