The Centre for Social and Labour Research (CSLR) has submitted a joint stakeholder report to the 54th Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group of the UN Human Rights Council.

The report, “Surviving to Care: Women’s Unpaid and Paid Care Labour in Wartime Ukraine,” examines how Russia’s full-scale invasion, combined with austerity measures and underfunded public services, has significantly increased unpaid care work, which is carried out predominantly by women.

Drawing on evidence from the research project “Caring to Survive, Surviving to Care,” the submission documents how women have assumed growing responsibilities for childcare, eldercare, support for injured veterans, and emotional care, while facing shrinking access to social services and growing economic insecurity. As well as other studies on care work in Ukraine, in particular by Yulia Yurchenko, Oksana Dutchak, Nataliia Lomonosova, data from Ukrainian and international institutions, etc.

The report calls on Ukraine to:

  • recognise care work as critical social infrastructure and an essential component of recovery;
  • establish fully state-funded public care policies for children, older persons, persons with disabilities, and veterans’ families;
  • increase investment in public healthcare, education, social protection, and community services;
  • improve wages and working conditions for care workers, teachers, healthcare professionals, and social workers;
  • recognise unpaid care work in pension calculations;
  • ensure meaningful participation of women’s organisations, trade unions, and civil society in Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction processes.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique UN Human Rights Council mechanism through which every UN Member State undergoes a peer review of its human rights record approximately every five years. Alongside governments’ national reports, submissions from civil society organisations play a crucial role in informing the international assessment and shaping recommendations for improving human rights protections.

Co-signatories of the submission (in alphabetical order):

  • Bila Tserkva Charitable Foundation Zamkova Gora (Білоцерківський
    Благодійний Фонд Замкова Гора)
  • Center for Democracy Development (Центр Розвиток демократії)
  • Charitable organization “Positive Women” (Благодійна організація “Позитивні
    жінки”)
  •  Military unit (Військова частина)
  • NGO “Center for Gender Culture” (ГО “Центр гендерної культури”)
  • NGO “Women in Media” (ГО “Жінки в медіа”)
  • Public organization “Another Woman” (Громадська організація “Інша жінка”)
  • Public organization “I.DE.YA” (Громадська організація “І.ДЕ.Я”)
  • Olena Tkalich, journalist, sociologist
  • NGO Social Movement (Sotsialnyi Rukh)
  • NGO Medical Movement “Be Like We Are”;
  • Nataliia Lomonosova, independent researcher, member of the editorial board of
    the Commons magazine
  •  Yulia Savelyeva, independent expert
  • Nataliya Fedorovych. Non-Governmental Organization “Center of Social
    Initiatives Prospect”.
  • Yuliya Yurchenko, independent expert, senior lecturer in political economy,
    University of Greenwich
  •  Yana Salakhova, NGO “Theatre for Change”

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