Response to sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination has been standardized in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs – Olha Perunova

Over the past two years, all legal acts and ethical rules of conduct of the internal affairs system have been amended to regulate the issue of responding to sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender.

Olha Perunova, Head of the Department for Respecting Gender Equality of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, made the relevant report during the discussion of the implementation of the updated National Action Plan for the Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security until 2025 by the security and defense institutions, held at the Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

“Two years ago, this was a real concern in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in that the issue of responding to sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender was not regulated. Paying tribute to our colleagues and the bodies of the Ministry over the past two years, we have amended all the regulations governing the procedure for conducting internal investigations in the National Police, the State Border Guard Service, the State Emergency Service, and the National Guard. Also, all ethical rules of conduct for police officers and military personnel have been adjusted, where sexual harassment or discrimination on the basis of gender is a separate ground and forces to initiate and conduct an internal investigation,” explained Olha Perunova.

In addition, she noted that from now on, the commission would have to take into account representatives of gender units during the official investigation. This, according to Olha Perunova, will allow for effective and objective decision-making when preparing a conclusion on such facts.

At the same time, she emphasized that the following stages of work on this issue are already being implemented.

“First, we need to train personnel to identify cases of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. Given that some people accept it as normal, but according to the law, it is already a violation of the norm, and this poses a problem. Secondly, we need to introduce a system for monitoring these appeals so that we can respond and then take into account the shortcomings in monitoring such cases and improve accordingly,” summarized Olha Perunova.

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