Stop the violence!

The School of Equal Opportunities considers cooperation with the community centers "Men against Violence", which were formed in a number of areas with the support of the UNDP Equal Opportunities Program, to be a very important aspect of educational work on combating gender-based violence. Following their example, in 2002 we launched the Youth Movement Against Violence.

Using the experience of men, including their mentor Yuri Onishko, the boys of the School of Equal Opportunities became active participants and promoters of the movement for the formation of nonviolent relations in society. The initiative group, headed for several years by the SHRM volunteer trainer Alexander Yakubovsky, considered its main task to be the deployment of the network "Boys Against Violence" in order to spread the idea of ​​new gender relations in society and the family and new gender roles of boys and men for the formation of society without violence.

"Young men against violence" in their daily work (during trainings, mass actions, participation in performances of the Gender Interactive Theater and Forum Theater) condemn any forms and manifestations of aggression both in the family and in society, actively participate in the formation of new social thought and new nonviolent living standards.

In cooperation with the centers for men, the young men worked out approaches and methods, exchanged experiences during seminars and international conferences. With our support, the Kherson Center has created its own gender interactive theater and forum theater. The Vinnytsia organization worked with SHRM youth in its region.

The movement acquired a new content in 2007-2008, when the School of Equal Opportunities, together with the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports, with the support of the UN Trust Fund, implemented the project "Violence against Women: Effectiveness and Consistency of Response".

We consider the participation of men and boys in national and regional mechanisms to combat domestic violence as an important component of the fight against violence. Thus, in May 2008, the movement "Young Men Against Violence" quite naturally joined the National Campaign "Stop Violence!"

Today the movement is headed by the trainer-expert of the ShRM Sergei Sidorov, a teacher at Ivano-Frankivsk University. E-mail: sydorid@ahoo.co.uk

reference Information

In development of the idea of ​​separate regional centers on March 4, 2009 within the framework of the National Campaign "Stop Violence!" In Ukraine, a National Network of Male Leaders Against Violence was created, who united to attract the attention of society and overcome this shameful phenomenon.

It includes well-known Ukrainian politicians, athletes, artists, public figures who take an active part in the public life of the country.

Silver medalist of the Olympic Games in swimming Denis Silantyev, multiple world and European champion in swimming Oleg Lisogor, Deputy Minister of Ukraine for Family, Youth and Sports Rostislav Karandeev, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Mykola Tomenko, People's artist of Ukraine Ostap Stupka, journalist Daniil Yanevsky, representatives of international and non-governmental organizations working in Ukraine.

The National Network of Men Leaders Against Violence was joined by the Minister of Ukraine for Family, Youth and Sports Yuriy Pavlenko, President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine Serhiy Bubka, People's Deputy of Ukraine Oleg Zarubinsky, football player of Kiev Dynamo Andriy Gusin, founder of the publishing house Abba ba-ha-la-ma-ha ”Ivan Malkovich, People's Artist of Ukraine Bogdan Benyuk and much more.

In 2009, the United Nations celebrated International Women's Day around the world under the slogan "Women and Men: Unite to End Violence against Women."

Men are worried about the alarming tendencies of the general decline of the institution of the family in the country, deformation of relations in the family and negative changes in the status of women in the family, the detrimental influence of mass culture on the formation of new stereotypes of behavior in the family. The network participants agreed that the return of the traditionally high status of women in the Ukrainian family is urgent.

Of particular concern are cases of violence during the economic crisis, when a healthy family should become the factor that minimizes the impact of the crisis.

Participants in the National Network of Male Leaders Against Violence spoke in favor of developing new legislation to prevent domestic violence, suggested conducting a powerful national media campaign against violence at the government level, organizing an effective hotline to counter violence, developing real mechanisms for working with offenders and providing assistance to victims, create training programs for journalists and government officials at different levels, actively borrow the positive experience of other countries.

Organizers of the event: Ministry of Ukraine for Family, Youth and Sports, Subcommittee on International Legal Issues and Gender Policy of the Verkhovna R Committee