Community professionals and law enforcement officers are strengthening cooperation to counter war-related violence

Continuing to work with communities to ensure effective implementation of legislation in the field of preventing and combating violence, at the end of November, a joint training was held for representatives of various entities to improve interdepartmental interaction of communities in the region.

The goal of the training was to develop practical skills in identifying cases of violence and developing an algorithm of actions focused on the victim and aimed at providing effective comprehensive assistance, including involving other specialized structures.

Representatives of the Nizhyn, Mykhailo-Kotsiubyn, Borznyan, and Sedniv communities of Chernihiv region, who are designated as responsible for implementing the policy in the field of preventing domestic violence, as well as precinct police officers and community police officers of the Main Police Department in Chernihiv region, participated in the training.

During the training, attention was focused on the differences in the concepts of domestic violence, gender-based violence, gender-based violence and human trafficking, as well as SNPK. The fact that 374 cases of conflict-related sexual violence (SNPK) were documented in Ukraine in 2024 was also discussed, and Ukraine has certain peculiarities – more than half of the documented cases concern men (mainly those who were tortured in captivity in the occupied territory or in the Russian Federation).

Separately, we focused on the characteristic signs of violence, including: systematicity of actions, infliction of harm, commission by persons who share a common life, rights and obligations, as well as place of residence. It is these signs that make it possible to hold perpetrators accountable, and the interaction of subjects in communities shows the effectiveness of such actions.

The project is supported by the Press, Education, and Cultural Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.