«Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for the opportunity to speak in front of you about Women’s Leadership today.
If you, as a child, as a woman, as a man, ever experienced violence in any form, I am very sorry for what you have gone through. You know very well that the place where it happened becomes the opposite of a safe environment if this happens.
In Belarus, safe environments for women are violated every day.
Belarusian Yulia Mitskevich is a feminist activist, the head of a gender-educational organization, and a member of the Coordinating Council “Fem-group”. She was detained, leaving her office. For her, this office – a safe place she created – has ceased to be such.
Volha Vialichka is the head of a leading children’s hospice. She had a criminal case opened because she criticized the human rights violations in Belarus. She was forced to leave the country. For her, this country – a place she worked to make safe – has ceased to be such.
Yulia and Volha are just one of plenty of examples. At the moment, 49 Belarusian women are internationally recognized, political prisoners. When women are detained, they are often called bad mothers and wives, they are threatened their children will be taken away, they are undressed in front of everyone, they are beaten and humiliated, they are deprived of basic hygienic and menstrual products.
We – Belarusian women – want to reclaim our safe environments. These are the spaces we have created ourselves. These are the spaces that rightfully belong to us. We want to define our own rules there. These rules are peace, respect, and equality.
We call on you to be more proactive and help us solve the problems of Belarusian women. We call on you to help us find ways to overcome the violations of women’s spaces and implement concrete policies for that.
Thank you!».
