The Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee hold an exchange of views with Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson on the situation of women refugees fleeing Ukraine. MEPs discuss what support the EU can provide to protect refugees from the risk of gender-based violence and sexual exploitation.

EU - Ukraine (T)

exchange of views

meeting

troubles in Ukraine (T)

violence against women (T)

Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality

BIEDROŃ, Robert (S&D, PL)

JOHANSSON, Ylva (SE, EC)

solidarity with Ukraine (T)

Situation of women refugees: extracts from the opening of the meeting and statement by Robert BIEDROŃ (S&D, PL), FEMM Chair and by Ylva JOHANSSON, European Commissioner for Home Affairs - FEMM Committee

SOUNDBITE (English), Robert BIEDRO&#323; (S&amp;D, PL), FEMM Chair, We should provide services which will protect those mainly girls and women. I mean, police police should be aware that they are easy victims of violence, of sexual harassment. We should sensitize all the public institutions that refugees coming from wherever they are, they are the most vulnerable group of people, which we should defend.

SOUNDBITE (English), Robert BIEDROŃ (S&amp;D, PL), FEMM Chair, We gave the Fast-Track for Temporary Protection Directive, and it's very important that there is a solidarity among member states within the European Union to help and protect refugees from Ukraine. And when this protection is implemented, we should do everything that they will come back to their normal life as much as possible. What I mean by that is children will go to kindergartens, to schools they will have provided education safely. Then the girls and the women will be safe from any violence.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ylva JOHANSSON, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Just after a few days when the war broke out, we activated our network of anti-trafficking coordinators, among all the member states. We have also activated from Europol side. So the national police are working on this both by giving information to people, but also to check the cars that are coming to pick up people. But it's also important to get information directly to the refugees. Don't go into a car with a person who do not know at all, try to go into buses or try to travel together.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ylva JOHANSSON, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Already before the war, Ukrainian citizens were on the top five of citizens being trafficked into the European Union. So there are already since before criminal groups that are specialized in trafficking Ukrainian citizens into the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ylva JOHANSSON, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, I presented a 10 point plan which partly addressed specifically this, for example, to set up an EU wide registration for all those that are coming for temporary protection, to set up special guidelines for how to deal with unaccompanied minors, how to do when transferring unaccompanied minors, for example, that we also from the EU agencies will deploy people at traffic hubs to give information to refugees.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ylva JOHANSSON, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Yesterday, the Ukrainian Minister of Interior, was also part on on video link into the council, and his message was that there are huge reports in Ukraine of women being raped as a war crime.

FEMM Chair Robert BIEDRON introducing the meeting

SOUNDBITE (English), Ylva JOHANSSON, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, So far we have received 3.8 million refugees from Ukraine into the European Union. Half of them are children. Approximately, roughly half of them are children. They have entered into European Union, mainly through via Poland, 2.3 million came to Poland, 700000 to Romania, 270 000 to Hungary, 240000 to Slovakia, and then around one million has gone further onto other member states.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ylva JOHANSSON, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, We have registered 2300 unaccompanied minors, but UNICEF estimates that we have received 6000 unaccompanied minors. So there is obviously or at least there is a risk of a lack of registration. We also have those coming from orphanages. They are coming with guardians and are not registered as unaccompanied minors. Most of them. I think all of them right now stay in Poland.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ylva JOHANSSON, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, We have very few formally reported investigations or cases of trafficking, but we have a lot of informal reports where the U.N. organizations on the ground spoke,I spoke with IOM last Sunday, for example, saying that they see a lot of cars with criminals that are there to pick up vulnerable people, women and children, especially for sexual purposes. But they could also be for other purposes.