Ukrainian Women Lead at the UN: Voices Against Aggression

Iryna Kuratchenko, a Ukrainian psychologist and forensic specialist, will represent the female delegation at the UN. HIAS, the world's oldest refugee organization, founded in 1881 to assist Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe, is bringing seven Ukrainian women to the forefront in assisting the wounded, caring for traumatized children, and helping entire families torn apart, to speak before the United Nations. The goal is to tell and expose, once again, the nature of the aggression war suffered by the Russians and the consequences it has on vulnerable people. "The purpose of the visit is to bring these firsthand accounts of the ongoing disproportionate impact on women and girls and to strengthen the urgent need for support for women's initiatives in the region," HIAS explains. "It's not just about reparations," added psychologist Kuratchenko, who leads a notable organization dealing with violence against women in Zaporizhzhia. "It's about full support for the survivors." The project will show officials in New York that the response to the displaced crisis in Ukraine continues to be dramatic, as is gender violence. The NGO HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) today is a global reality that helps refugees, asylum seekers, and other people in more than thirty countries worldwide without any discrimination, drawing on Jewish values and history and working with host communities.