On November, 11th, 13th Docudays UA International Travelling Human Rights Documentary Film Festival started in Lviv.

The audiovisual performance, which was shown at the opening, dealt with the topic of the interaction between the real and the virtual worlds and drew attention to the problems of human rights protection and the human rights activists, who are often ignored in the authorities’ offices. The Ukrainian Constitution articles were read aloud by Lviv civil activists, whose voices at times could be heard clearly but then vanished into the noises of the officials’ everyday rush and indifference.

This year’s festival was opened with Hooligan Sparrow, a story about the Chinese human rights activist Ye Haiyan, nicknamed Hooligan Sparrow, who fearlessly fight against sexual abuse of women and girls, and who, together with other activists, publicly drew attention to the six underage girls, who were molested by their school principal. These girls and the courageous filmmaker Nanfu Wang endure numerous trials and dangers, they are under constant government surveillance, they are persecuted, charged with disorderly behaviour, detained and threatened with bodily harm.

“With the help of this film and the discussion, we would like to draw attention to the human rights activists’ work all over the world, and specifically in Ukraine, - noted Nina Khoma, a coordinator of the Travelling Docudays UA in Lviv region. - In many countries those who fight against the system become enemies of the state and often pay dearly for advocating human rights.”

“This woman is a precedent in China. In general, sex industry is a huge business in any country, so human rights activists always face massive resistance,” - indicated Liubov Maksymovych, a well-known activist, the head of the NGO “Women's Perspectives”. The organization that she leads has been dealing with human trafficking and family violence issues for many years. However, their activity faces a range of obstacles, as Ukraine does not have a state program on family violence prevention.

“Violence causes violence and it is one of the reasons to commit crimes. If a child grows up in the environment, where violence is common practice, it is very likely that at a mature age this person will also use violence, - noted the activist. - Unfortunately, victims in Ukraine have to provide evidence that they have been abused. In Poland, for instance, the people, who are charged with abuse, have to prove that there was no violence.” According to Liubov Maksymovych’s words, now we already have some precedents of winning the cases related to domestic violence. “Women's Perspectives” organize training for judges and lawyers all over Ukraine, changing their perception of the problem. “But we still have to change our mentality, so that people who become witnesses of violence do not remain outside observers, as their intervention could save someone’s life,” - noted Liubov Maksymovych.

“The only way to change something is to gradually hammer this wall”, says Natalia Dulneva, a member of the human rights activists’ union “Solidarnist” and the head of the Lviv-based NGO “Girls Club Yunka”.

According to Natalia, highlighting humiliation of women in all countries and the dangers, that female human rights activists are likely to face, we can make people less indifferent and reach a more positive result. “You do not need to have a law background, everyone can do human rights activism, if they just feel sympathy and solidarity with others.”

“Human rights activism is like hygiene, if you do not brush your teeth for a long time, you will get tooth decay, “ underlined Oleksandra Romantsova, a human rights activist from Euromaidan SOS. Working in one of the most prestigious banks, she devoted all her free time to volunteering on Euromaidan, and later left her business career and completely switched to civic activities. “Human rights imply not having such events as Euromaidan in the future”, noted Oleksandra.

“On the whole, sexual violence issues have their origins in the social stereotypes which impose certain behaviour patterns on men and women, - noted Bohdana Stelmakh, a social activist from Lutsk. - The society has different expectations for both sexes. It expects women to be perfect wives, mothers and housewives and does not say anything about self-realization possibilities, whereas men are encouraged to think about their career building from an early age. The woman is stereotypically considered to be someone whose main vocation is to facilitate the man’s self-realization. This implies treating the woman as a secondary human being, as a tool to satisfy men’s and children’s needs. But all of us pursue our own dreams, and women, just like men, must become a fully valid part of the society and have equal opportunities for self-realization and bringing their dreams into being. We must overcome social stereotypes in perception of women’s life roles, and, consequently, the problem of violence will not be as acute.”

Photo: Dmitry Shatsky

Source: centre7.org.ua