[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 121 (Thursday, July 21, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3602-S3603]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING, HONORING, AND COMMENDING THE WOMEN OF UKRAINE WHO HAVE 
    CONTRIBUTED TO THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM AND THE DEFENSE OF UKRAINE

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 412, S. Res. 
589.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 589) recognizing, honoring, and 
     commending the women of Ukraine who have contributed to the 
     fight for freedom and the defense of Ukraine.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution, which had been reported from the Committee on Foreign 
Relations, with an amendment to strike all after the resolving clause 
and insert the part in italic, and with an amendment to strike the 
preamble and insert the part printed in italic, as follows:

                              S. Res. 589

       Whereas, on February 24, 2022, Russian Federation President 
     Vladimir Putin instigated an unprovoked, unjustified, and 
     unlawful war violating the territorial integrity of the 
     sovereign country of Ukraine;
       Whereas, in response to this invasion, the people of 
     Ukraine marshaled their will to defend their country and 
     shared belief in a sovereign Ukraine in order to resist the 
     imperialist ambitions of Vladimir Putin;
       Whereas countless Ukrainian men, women, and children have 
     done their part to defend democracy and freedom in Ukraine;
       Whereas women have played a key role in defending Ukraine, 
     keeping their families and innocent children safe and 
     responding to the invasion by the Russian Federation;
       Whereas, in the first 3 months of fighting in Ukraine, more 
     than 6,100,000 Ukrainians, of which the majority are women 
     and children, fled the country in response to Putin's war;
       Whereas women play a critical role in facilitating the 
     transit of children to safety, including by escorting the 
     children of parents and guardians who cannot leave Ukraine so 
     that such children are able to find safety in neighboring 
     countries;
       Whereas the women who remain in Ukraine contribute to all 
     aspects of warfighting, including by fighting on the front 
     lines and as part of the territorial defense, delivering 
     supplies and weapons, and preparing cities for assaults by 
     the Russian Federation;
       Whereas between 15 and 17 percent of the armed forces of 
     Ukraine are women;

[[Page S3603]]

       Whereas the women of Ukraine have a long history of 
     defending Ukraine and standing up for their rights and 
     freedoms;
       Whereas, following the 2014 invasion of the sovereign and 
     independent state of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the 
     women of Ukraine joined the fight to preserve their 
     independence;
       Whereas, despite significant contributions to the war 
     effort now and since 2014, outdated legislation in Ukraine 
     classifies women as cooks, tailors, and administrative 
     assistants;
       Whereas women are an integral part of the armed forces of 
     Ukraine and continue to defend their homes and their country;
       Whereas, on March 9, the armed forces of the Russian 
     Federation deliberately attacked civilian targets in 
     Mariupol, Ukraine, which destroyed a hospital that served as 
     both a maternity ward and a children's hospital, killing two 
     women and a baby;
       Whereas, following the devastating attack on the well-known 
     and established hospital, the world watched in horror as 
     pregnant women, mothers carrying newborn babies, and young 
     children fled the rubble of what should have been a safe 
     place;
       Whereas the women at the hospital should have been 
     celebrating new life and looking toward raising their 
     children in peace and safety, instead, those women are 
     seeking shelter in subways, giving birth in bunkers, and 
     worrying for the safety of their children and the future of 
     Ukraine;
       Whereas the attack on the maternity ward and children's 
     hospital in Mariupol was the fourth such attack on a 
     maternity ward in Ukraine by the Russian Federation since the 
     beginning of the invasion on February 24;
       Whereas, according to Save the Children, more than 63,000 
     women have given birth since the start of the war, while the 
     United Nations estimates that 80,000 Ukrainian women will 
     give birth in between April and June of 2022;
       Whereas all women, in every situation, have the right to a 
     safe birth and access to crucial supplies necessary for the 
     management of pregnancy complications, including oxygen and 
     medical supplies, which are running dangerously low in 
     Ukraine because of the ongoing violence and refusal on the 
     part of the Russian Federation to allow for safe passage for 
     humanitarian purposes;
       Whereas, on March 17, 2022, Secretary of State Antony 
     Blinken described the deliberate targeting of civilians in 
     Ukraine as a war crime, which should be investigated as such;
       Whereas, on March 23, 2022, Secretary Blinken announced 
     that it was the assessment of the United States Government 
     that ``members of Russia's forces have committed war crimes 
     in Ukraine'' based on ``a careful review of available 
     information from public and intelligence sources'';
       Whereas the Russian Federation has deliberately attacked 
     civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, including 
     schools, hospitals, businesses, apartment buildings, and 
     utility services;
       Whereas the initial days of the invasion of Ukraine by the 
     Russian Federation have resulted in a disproportionate number 
     of women and children seeking safety outside of Ukraine;
       Whereas Ukrainian women and girls, like women and girls in 
     all humanitarian emergencies, including women and girls 
     forced to leave their homes in conflict settings, face 
     increased and exacerbated vulnerabilities to--
       (1) gender-based violence, including rape, child marriage, 
     domestic violence, and sexual exploitation and assault;
       (2) all forms of human trafficking;
       (3) disruptions in education and livelihood;
       (4) lack of access to health care; and
       (5) food insecurity and malnutrition;

       Whereas the United Nations Security Council adopted United 
     Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on October 31, 2000, 
     acknowledging the impact of conflict and security decisions 
     on women and calling on all member states to include ``women 
     at all decision-making levels in national, regional and 
     international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, 
     management, and resolution of conflict'';
       Whereas, according to the United Nations Entity for Gender 
     Equality and the Empowerment of Women (commonly referred to 
     as ``UN Women''), peace negotiations are more likely to end 
     in a peace agreement when women and women's groups play a 
     meaningful role in the negotiation process, and according to 
     the International Peace Institute, a peace agreement is 35 
     percent more likely to last at least 15 years if women 
     participate in the development of the peace agreement;
       Whereas, in 2016, Ukraine adopted its first National Action 
     Plan for the implementation of United Nations Security 
     Council Resolution 1325, and, on October 28, 2020, Ukraine 
     approved a new National Action Plan for 2021 through 2025 in 
     order to address the impact on women of the aggression of the 
     Russian Federation against Ukraine and to ensure gender 
     equality in the security and defense sectors of Ukraine;
       Whereas representation of women in politics in Ukraine has 
     increased steadily since the first parliament of an 
     independent Ukraine met in 1990;
       Whereas more than 20 percent of seats in the ninth and 
     current Verkhovna Rada are held by women, the most in 
     Ukrainian history;
       Whereas women across Ukraine have made political gains in 
     recent years, including in local elections on October 25, 
     2020, where 38 percent of deputies elected were women; and
       Whereas women in Ukraine should be involved at all levels 
     and in all aspects of leadership, negotiation, conflict 
     resolution, and peacekeeping in order to ensure the most 
     enduring peace for Ukraine and the region: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       [Resolved,]
       That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes, honors, and commends the women of Ukraine 
     who have contributed to the fight for freedom and the defense 
     of Ukraine, including women who--
       (A) are members of the Armed Forces and the Territorial 
     Defense Forces of Ukraine;
       (B) are volunteers, organizing and operating humanitarian 
     organizations;
       (C) are doctors, nurses, paramedics, and support personnel, 
     providing life-saving services across Ukraine;
       (D) have mobilized to assist the safe transfer of the 
     children and other vulnerable individuals from Ukraine; and
       (E) are public leaders, politicians, and diplomats;
       (2) stands with the people of Ukraine in support of their 
     fight for freedom against the Russian Federation;
       (3) acknowledges the women who have risked their lives to 
     travel through territory controlled by the Russian 
     Federation, break siege tactics surrounding cities, and to 
     ensure the safety of children and the elderly;
       (4) commends--
       (A) the bordering countries of Ukraine, including Poland, 
     Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Moldova, who are 
     accommodating more than 6,000,000 refugees; and
       (B) the broader European Union for committing to provide 
     support during the growing humanitarian crisis;
       (5) calls on all countries to ensure that aid provided in 
     support of refugees fleeing Ukraine and internally displaced 
     persons within Ukraine takes into account the needs of women 
     and the gender-specific risks that women face in seeking 
     safety;
       (6) acknowledges the important role women must play in 
     resolving the conflict between Ukraine and the Russian 
     Federation as outlined in United Nations Security Council 
     Resolution 1325 (2016) and required by the laws of the United 
     States and regulations of Ukraine;
       (7) further calls on all countries to promote the 
     meaningful inclusion of women in negotiations and decision-
     making at all levels, including security decisions; and
       (8) commits to supporting the women of Ukraine wherever 
     they are as they fight back against tyranny and work for the 
     free and democratic future of Ukraine.

  Mr. CARDIN. I further ask that the committee-reported substitute 
amendment to the resolution be agreed to; the resolution, as amended, 
be agreed to; the committee-reported substitute amendment to the 
preamble be agreed to; the preamble, as amended, be agreed to; and the 
motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no 
intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The committee-reported amendment in the nature of a substitute was 
agreed to.
  The resolution (S. Res. 589), as amended, was agreed to.
  The committee-reported amendment to the preamble in the nature of a 
substitute was agreed to.
  The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.

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