On 10 October 2022, the Parliamentary Secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, met with representatives from an organisation for the protection of Ukrainian women’s rights, Women’s Informational and Consultative Centre. The organisation’s experts are working with the issues of women’s rights in the context of war and providing support for victims of sexual violence in Ukraine. A week-long study visit to Latvia is taking place as part of a development cooperation project financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by MARTA Resource Centre for Women.
At the beginning of the conversation, the Parliamentary Secretary condemned in the strongest terms the missile strikes on civilians and infrastructure facilities in Ukraine launched by Russia. “Russia will be held accountable for its war crimes. They cannot go unpunished. At the moment, the West needs to increase deliveries of weapons to Ukraine so that it could protect its people and stop Russia,” she underlined.
During the meeting, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica noted that assistance to victims of war was one of Latvia’s priorities for its development cooperation in Ukraine. At the same time, it is vital that all possible evidence be documented in order to ensure that Russia is held to account for its actions. The Parliamentary Secretary highlighted the partners’ selfless efforts and cooperation between Latvian and Ukrainian organisations, and she underlined that Latvia was prepared to further strengthen cooperation through providing every kind of support for Ukraine.
The Ukrainian organisations gave a presentation on their work to update the national plan of Ukraine for the implementation, under war-time conditions, of the United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security. Sharing experience in those matters is a vital part of the Ukrainian partners’ visit. In the course of the conversation, several issues were identified on which assistance to civilians in Ukraine should be continued or expanded.