[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 589 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 589
Recognizing, honoring, and commending the women of Ukraine who have
contributed to the fight for freedom and the defense of Ukraine.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 7, 2022
Mrs. Shaheen (for herself, Ms. Ernst, Ms. Hirono, Mrs. Blackburn, Ms.
Hassan, Mrs. Capito, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Collins, Ms. Warren, Ms.
Murkowski, Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. Stabenow, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Smith, Mrs.
Feinstein, Ms. Sinema, Ms. Duckworth, Ms. Rosen, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mrs.
Murray, Ms. Lummis, Ms. Cantwell, Mrs. Fischer, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr.
Blumenthal, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Cardin, and Mr. Coons)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Relations
June 14, 2022
Reported by Mr. Menendez, with an amendment and an amendment to the
preamble
July 21, 2022
Considered, amended, and agreed to with an amended preamble
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing, honoring, and commending the women of Ukraine who have
contributed to the fight for freedom and the defense of Ukraine.
Whereas, on February 24, 2022, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin
instigated an unprovoked, unjustified, and unlawful war violating the
territorial integrity of the sovereign country of Ukraine;
Whereas, in response to this invasion, the people of Ukraine marshaled their
will to defend their country and shared belief in a sovereign Ukraine in
order to resist the imperialist ambitions of Vladimir Putin;
Whereas countless Ukrainian men, women, and children have done their part to
defend democracy and freedom in Ukraine;
Whereas women have played a key role in defending Ukraine, keeping their
families and innocent children safe and responding to the invasion by
the Russian Federation;
Whereas, in the first 3 months of fighting in Ukraine, more than 6,100,000
Ukrainians, of which the majority are women and children, fled the
country in response to Putin's war;
Whereas women play a critical role in facilitating the transit of children to
safety, including by escorting the children of parents and guardians who
cannot leave Ukraine so that such children are able to find safety in
neighboring countries;
Whereas the women who remain in Ukraine contribute to all aspects of
warfighting, including by fighting on the front lines and as part of the
territorial defense, delivering supplies and weapons, and preparing
cities for assaults by the Russian Federation;
Whereas between 15 and 17 percent of the armed forces of Ukraine are women;
Whereas the women of Ukraine have a long history of defending Ukraine and
standing up for their rights and freedoms;
Whereas, following the 2014 invasion of the sovereign and independent state of
Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the women of Ukraine joined the fight
to preserve their independence;
Whereas, despite significant contributions to the war effort now and since 2014,
outdated legislation in Ukraine classifies women as cooks, tailors, and
administrative assistants;
Whereas women are an integral part of the armed forces of Ukraine and continue
to defend their homes and their country;
Whereas, on March 9, the armed forces of the Russian Federation deliberately
attacked civilian targets in Mariupol, Ukraine, which destroyed a
hospital that served as both a maternity ward and a children's hospital,
killing two women and a baby;
Whereas, following the devastating attack on the well-known and established
hospital, the world watched in horror as pregnant women, mothers
carrying newborn babies, and young children fled the rubble of what
should have been a safe place;
Whereas the women at the hospital should have been celebrating new life and
looking toward raising their children in peace and safety, instead,
those women are seeking shelter in subways, giving birth in bunkers, and
worrying for the safety of their children and the future of Ukraine;
Whereas the attack on the maternity ward and children's hospital in Mariupol was
the fourth such attack on a maternity ward in Ukraine by the Russian
Federation since the beginning of the invasion on February 24;
Whereas, according to Save the Children, more than 63,000 women have given birth
since the start of the war, while the United Nations estimates that
80,000 Ukrainian women will give birth in between April and June of
2022;
Whereas all women, in every situation, have the right to a safe birth and access
to crucial supplies necessary for the management of pregnancy
complications, including oxygen and medical supplies, which are running
dangerously low in Ukraine because of the ongoing violence and refusal
on the part of the Russian Federation to allow for safe passage for
humanitarian purposes;
Whereas, on March 17, 2022, Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the
deliberate targeting of civilians in Ukraine as a war crime, which
should be investigated as such;
Whereas, on March 23, 2022, Secretary Blinken announced that it was the
assessment of the United States Government that ``members of Russia's
forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine'' based on ``a careful
review of available information from public and intelligence sources'';
Whereas the Russian Federation has deliberately attacked civilians and civilian
infrastructure in Ukraine, including schools, hospitals, businesses,
apartment buildings, and utility services;
Whereas the initial days of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation
have resulted in a disproportionate number of women and children seeking
safety outside of Ukraine;
Whereas Ukrainian women and girls, like women and girls in all humanitarian
emergencies, including women and girls forced to leave their homes in
conflict settings, face increased and exacerbated vulnerabilities to--
(1) gender-based violence, including rape, child marriage, domestic
violence, and sexual exploitation and assault;
(2) all forms of human trafficking;
(3) disruptions in education and livelihood;
(4) lack of access to health care; and
(5) food insecurity and malnutrition;
Whereas the United Nations Security Council adopted United Nations Security
Council Resolution 1325 on October 31, 2000, acknowledging the impact of
conflict and security decisions on women and calling on all member
states to include ``women at all decision-making levels in national,
regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the
prevention, management, and resolution of conflict'';
Whereas, according to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women (commonly referred to as ``UN Women''), peace
negotiations are more likely to end in a peace agreement when women and
women's groups play a meaningful role in the negotiation process, and
according to the International Peace Institute, a peace agreement is 35
percent more likely to last at least 15 years if women participate in
the development of the peace agreement;
Whereas, in 2016, Ukraine adopted its first National Action Plan for the
implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, and,
on October 28, 2020, Ukraine approved a new National Action Plan for
2021 through 2025 in order to address the impact on women of the
aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and to ensure
gender equality in the security and defense sectors of Ukraine;
Whereas representation of women in politics in Ukraine has increased steadily
since the first parliament of an independent Ukraine met in 1990;
Whereas more than 20 percent of seats in the ninth and current Verkhovna Rada
are held by women, the most in Ukrainian history;
Whereas women across Ukraine have made political gains in recent years,
including in local elections on October 25, 2020, where 38 percent of
deputies elected were women; and
Whereas women in Ukraine should be involved at all levels and in all aspects of
leadership, negotiation, conflict resolution, and peacekeeping in order
to ensure the most enduring peace for Ukraine and the region: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) recognizes, honors, and commends the women of Ukraine
who have contributed to the fight for freedom and the defense
of Ukraine, including women who--
(A) are members of the Armed Forces and the
Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine;
(B) are volunteers, organizing and operating
humanitarian organizations;
(C) are doctors, nurses, paramedics, and support
personnel, providing life-saving services across
Ukraine;
(D) have mobilized to assist the safe transfer of
the children and other vulnerable individuals from
Ukraine; and
(E) are public leaders, politicians, and diplomats;
(2) stands with the people of Ukraine in support of their
fight for freedom against the Russian Federation;
(3) acknowledges the women who have risked their lives to
travel through territory controlled by the Russian Federation,
break siege tactics surrounding cities, and to ensure the
safety of children and the elderly;
(4) commends--
(A) the bordering countries of Ukraine, including
Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Moldova, who
are accommodating more than 6,000,000 refugees; and
(B) the broader European Union for committing to
provide support during the growing humanitarian crisis;
(5) calls on all countries to ensure that aid provided in
support of refugees fleeing Ukraine and internally displaced
persons within Ukraine takes into account the needs of women
and the gender-specific risks that women face in seeking
safety;
(6) acknowledges the important role women must play in
resolving the conflict between Ukraine and the Russian
Federation as outlined in United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1325 (2016) and required by the laws of the United
States and regulations of Ukraine;
(7) further calls on all countries to promote the
meaningful inclusion of women in negotiations and decision-
making at all levels, including security decisions; and
(8) commits to supporting the women of Ukraine wherever
they are as they fight back against tyranny and work for the
free and democratic future of Ukraine.
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