The War in Ukraine from a Feminist and International Law Perspective: Members of the Network Discussed with Veronika Bílková and Mila O’Sullivan

Russian full-scale armed invasion of Ukraine is a serious violation of the UN Charter, international humanitarian law and international human rights law. In particular, Russia is also attacking women's rights and framing the war as a fight against “gender ideology”. How have the lives of Ukrainian women and girls, but also men and boys, changed since the war began? And are international institutions able to respond adequately to the conflict? 

Members of the Network of Women in Czech Foreign, European and Security Policy discussed these and other questions with Veronika Bílková, Professor of International Law at Charles University and Senior Researcher at the Institute of International Relations, and Míla O’Sullivan, Research Fellow at the Institute of International Relations. The meeting was held in cooperation with the Institute of International Relations. 

Veronika Bílková spoke about the current crisis of the international order in light of recent geopolitical developments, which are limiting the possibilities to provide international guarantees to Ukraine. Míla O’Sullivan further stressed that the West should listen to the experiences of Ukrainian women and not judge the situation and its possible solutions through the lens of Western feminism, whose perspectives are often incompatible with lived experience of Russian imperialism.