Kateryna Cherepakha

President La Strada-Ukraine

Region(s): Europe
Country of focus: Ukraine

Kateryna Cherepakha is President of La Strada-Ukraine, a civil society organization focused on preventing human trafficking, gender based violence, in particular domestic violence, protecting the rights of the children, promoting non-violent conflict resolution, mediation and peacebuilding.

Kateryna addressed the UN security council on April 11, 2022, stating that violence and rape were weapons of war in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but that women should not be seen as victims only. Her key message was subsequently frequently cited: “We know and see, and we want you to hear our voice – violence and rape is used as a weapon of war by Russian invaders in Ukraine. At the same time the war also shows the important role that women play in standing for Ukraine, in the process of restoring the peace, strengthening and development of the country and democracy processes. We do not want you to look at us only as victims of the Russian military aggression.”

La Strada Ukraine is a member of the International La Strada Association, a European network of organizations working on prevention human trafficking, as well as Women Against Violence Europe Network (WAVE), Child Helpline International, ECPAT, and the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women.

Kateryna has more than 20 years of experience of work in this field.