With your help, Fòs Feminista can continue supporting women, girls and gender-diverse people in Eastern Europe who have been affected by the war.
As more than a million and a half Ukrainians flee their country to escape Russia’s bombardment, neighboring countries face growing pressure to provide shelter and basic care, including sexual and reproductive health services. The governments of Poland, Romania, and Moldova have so far failed to mobilize an adequate response to the needs of refugees, and thus civil society organizations have stepped into the breach to provide resources and support for women, girls, and gender-diverse people.
“Our government is not doing anything. So almost everything that is happening in Poland to help refugees—who are almost exclusively women and children—comes from organizations from the feminist movement, child protection and humanitarian groups,” said Krystyna Kacpura, Executive Director of the Federation for Women and Family Planning, a Fòs Feminista partner in Warsaw.
The Federation is one of the few groups committed to sexual and reproductive health and rights in Poland. They have sought to eliminate restrictions on women‘s access to safe abortion services. But since mid-February, their priority has been caring for refugees fleeing the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
“We have been coordinating a network of health professionals who can provide free consultations to women in need of SRHR services, including psychologists, gynecologists, and counsellors,” said Krystyna.
The Central and Eastern European Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, ASTRA, has been working for more than 20 years with organizations in 21 countries in the region, including two in Ukraine where they provide health services, promote sexuality education, and implement harm reduction projects to prevent HIV.
“Our partners in Ukraine have left the country because the situation is just getting worse every day. We are very concerned about the raising levels of sexual violence, human trafficking and unwanted pregnancies that usually occur in situations like this one,” said Antonina Lewandowska, coordinator of the ASTRA Network. “There is so much to do and only very few of us taking care of everything. Our staff is even hosting refugee families in their own apartments”.
Responding to gender-based violence is key during humanitarian crisis because women and girls become even more vulnerable to rape, sexual exploitation and other forms of abuse. ASTRA has been advocating with governments to raise the alarms and implement strategies that will prevent gender-based violence.
“We developed materials that are being distributed to refugees regarding measures to avoid violence during their transit or in the place where they will settle temporarily. All the leaflets are in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish. As a result, we are getting many calls to ask for counselling and service referrals. We are even getting calls from women who urgently need emergency contraception pills, which is not easily available in Poland,” said Antonina.
With your help, Fòs Feminista can continue supporting women, girls and gender-diverse people in Eastern Europe who have been affected by the war. Donate now. »
