International standards on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) are clear on paper. They set out zero-tolerance policies, codes of conduct and reporting channels, all grounded in respect for human dignity. But standards only protect people when they take root in the communities they are meant to serve.I was reminded of this at a meeting on safety, inclusion and humanitarian response. During the discussion, a participant remarked, quite seriously, that women who experience violence are partly to blame because of how much makeup they wear.For a moment, the room went silent. One remark does not define a society. But it captured something those of us working on PSEA encounter regularly: the instinct, found in many countries, to look for fault in the person who was harmed rather than in the person who abused their power.That instinct is where the gap lies between our policies and people’s lived reality. Closing it takes more than sharing manuals and codes of conduct with partner organizations. It means understanding why people stay silent, and building protection around that. When Help Feels Like a DebtVictim-blaming is not unique to Ukraine. Wherever it appears, it offers onlookers a false sense of safety: if she was harmed because of what she wore or how she behaved, then it cannot happen to me. Concern about “what people will say” only strengthens that reflex.In Ukraine, these attitudes can be reinforced by history. Generations lived through the Holodomor and decades of repression, when staying unnoticed was often the safest option and access to basic necessities could depend on those who controlled them. One lasting legacy can be a quiet sense that anything received must be repaid, and that questioning those in charge carries risk.In a humanitarian setting, that sense of obligation can become dangerous. A person displaced from the front line, waiting for evacuation or relying on assistance may come to see aid, cash support or a job with an organization not as an entitlement but as a favour. The perceived price of that favour can be loyalty, silence, or tolerating behaviour that should never be tolerated.This is exactly the kind of power imbalance that sexual exploitation and abuse feed on. It is also why responsibility so often shifts to the survivor: she smiled, she wore makeup, she accepted help. In this logic, people lose the right to make choices about their own bodies and appearance, while the person who abused their position escapes scrutiny. Three Barriers to Speaking UpIn inter-agency PSEA coordination, we design policies, workflows and complaint channels with care. In practice, I see them meet the same three obstacles again and again.The aura of the helper. Volunteers and humanitarian workers in Ukraine have earned enormous respect, and much of it is deserved. But that respect can make it harder to raise concerns about harassment or abuse of power by a respected figure. People who speak up may be told they are undermining a shared cause in wartime. When that happens, a reputation is protected at the expense of a person.Fear of public exposure. In communities under strain, people who control resources can be placed on a pedestal and forgiven a great deal. When misconduct comes to light, the reaction can swing sharply from admiration to public condemnation, and organizations may try to handle the matter quietly to protect their reputation. For survivors, the prospect of being at the centre of that storm can be reason enough to stay silent.Language that does not reach people. For someone affected by war and relying on aid, a policy written in technical, institutional language may not feel like protection at all. If people cannot understand how a reporting channel works, or fear it could be used against them, they will not use it. From Compliance to TrustAt the PSEA Network Secretariat in Ukraine, we are working to move beyond compliance towards real engagement with the people PSEA is meant to protect. Three principles guide that work.Aid is unconditional. Every humanitarian worker, and every person receiving assistance, should know the core rule: aid can never be exchanged for sex, silence or favours. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s core principles on PSEA prohibit exchanging money, employment, goods or services for sex, including assistance that people are entitled to. Those who deliver assistance do not own the people who receive it.Training built on real situations. Rather than asking people to memorize definitions of “zero tolerance”, our trainings work through realistic scenarios: someone with access to resources hinting at a “special relationship” in return for help; a manager taking advantage of an employee’s dependence; a community excusing abuse because of how the survivor looks. The aim is for people to recognize these situations and name them without feeling ashamed.Reporting channels people trust. Feedback and complaint mechanisms only work when people feel safe using them. We are working with community leaders and psychosocial support providers so that reporting is confidential, survivor-centred and free from judgement. A Foundation, Not a Finished HouseInternational standards on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) are clear on paper. They set out zero-tolerance policies, codes of conduct, and reporting channels grounded in respect for human dignity. But standards only protect people when they take root in the communities they are meant to serve. At the same time, prevention—systemic and early proactive measures—is always more effective than any subsequent response, as preventing harm is far better than dealing with its consequences later. 
To ensure that policies do not remain mere paper, it is crucial to actively build prevention in real life:Implement living preventive policies that do not just formally exist on organizations' notice boards, but are regularly explained to teams and partners and clearly regulate a safe environment.Educate people so that everyone knows their rights, can recognize warning signs, and does not feel guilt or shame in risky situations. Develop reliable feedback and response systems that people genuinely trust. It is essential that survivors or witnesses clearly know: by turning there, they will not face condemnation or cover-ups, but will receive professional, safe, and confidential help.To achieve this, we must consistently overcome harmful stereotypes: the false notion that survivors are to blame, the habit of staying silent and "accommodating," and the fear of public exposure. International guidelines set the rules of the game. But it is practical work on the ground, knowledgeable people, and real trust that make these rules a working mechanism of protection. 

Across Ukraine, the answers depend on decisions municipalities are making right now about how to rebuild, and on whether residents have a say in them.That is what Sustainable Development Goal 11 is about: cities and villages that are inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Its targets read like a list of daily needs: decent housing, affordable transport, safe green and public spaces. They also include something less visible but just as important: people taking a real part in how their community is planned.Irpin shows what this looks like in practice. The city of about 102,000 people, 7 km from Kyiv, was occupied for 30 days in 2022, and more than 2,850 residential buildings were damaged or destroyed. When its recovery plan was being prepared in late 2024, Irpin was also hosting more than 23,000 internally displaced people, nearly a quarter of its residents. “Perhaps we are the only country in history that is not only rebuilding during a war but also continuing to develop,” explains Anzhela Makeieva, Acting Mayor of Irpin – Secretary of the City Council.“That is precisely why it is so important for us today not simply to restore what has been destroyed, but to start thinking now about what Irpin will look like in 10, 20 or 30 years,” explains Anzhela Makeieva, Acting Mayor of Irpin – Secretary of the City Council.To decide what to rebuild first, Irpin turned to the people who live there. With support from UN-Habitat’s Ukraine Urban Lab, the city council surveyed more than 700 households, invited residents to propose projects, and published the draft plan for public comment before adopting it in August 2025. The answers showed where services are missing. In the outlying villages, for example, four in five residents have no access to sports facilities. A network of public spaces now links schools, parks and services across the city. “Recovery is not only about what we rebuild, but about who decides,” says Alexandre Koclejda, Officer-in-Charge of UN-Habitat in Ukraine. “When residents help shape the plan and see how their input is used, recovery builds trust, strengthens local democracy and gives communities the power to lead their own future.”UN-Habitat’s main aim is to strengthen municipalities’ own capacity to plan and lead their recovery. Through hands-on technical support and training, local teams learn to analyse their community’s needs, involve residents, decide which projects come first and prepare them for funding.

On Wednesday, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine called for an end to attacks against civilians.Among the dead in Pryluky were five children, three of them babies, according to the latest information from local authorities. One of the children died along with his mother and grandmother.54 people were reportedly injured when residential buildings were struck. The rescue works continued for more than 24 hours, finishing on 8 October. The overnight wave of attacks also reportedly killed around 25 others and injured dozens of civilians in Kremenchuk in the Poltava region, Kyiv and Oleksandriia in the Kirovohrad region.According to the latest data, 15,280 civilians were killed or injured in Ukraine during the first eight months of this year.Children in constant danger“Families must never live through the horror of seeing their children placed in constant danger or buried under the rubble of their own homes. This pattern of increasing harm to civilians must end,” the UN’s top official in the country Matthias Schmale said in a statement.On 5 and 6 October, airstrikes hit a hospital in Kryvyi Rih and ambulances in Kramatorsk, injuring health workers. Ukrainian Red Cross workers were also injured while travelling to assist people affected by an attack in Zaporizhzhia.Violation of international law“Civilians, including children, homes and essential civilian infrastructure are protected under international humanitarian law,” Mr. Schmale reiterated.Briefing journalists in New York Wednesday, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the Secretary-General strongly condemned the ongoing attacks. He also expressed deep concern over the rising number of civilian casualties.“All attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur, are a violation of international humanitarian law and must end immediately,” Mr. Dujarric said.Humanitarian responseHumanitarian teams in Ukraine reported that attacks and frontline hostilities over the previous 24 hours had caused more than 150 civilian casualties.During the first eight months of this year, the UN and its humanitarian partners assisted 1.5 million people affected by strikes across Ukraine, as attacks continue to intensify and spread to areas farther from the front lines.Source: UN news

As the full-scale war approaches its fifth anniversary, a growing number of Ukrainian veterans are returning home with amputations and other serious injuries. But what really happens when they come home, and who is there to receive them?When we talk about veterans’ recovery, we tend to picture the rehabilitation centre: a prosthetist adjusting a socket, a physiotherapist counting repetitions, the first steps between parallel bars. Those moments matter enormously. But the longer I work alongside veterans and the organizations that support them, the more convinced I am that an important part of recovery begins the day a veteran goes home. Recovery does not end at the clinic door. Prosthetic fitting and adjustments, mobility training, pain management, medical appointments and adaptations at home can stretch over months or even years. And much of that long road is walked at home, alongside a wife, a partner, a mother, a sister or a daughter. So, I keep coming back to one question: who will care for the wounded, and who will care for her?The Moment Nobody Plans ForUkraine’s need for trauma care and rehabilitation is immense. The World Health Organization (WHO) says rehabilitation needs already far exceed service capacity.Centres such as UNBROKEN or Superhumans are working at and beyond their limits, and the demand continues to grow.The International Organization for Migration has documented how needs can pile up for veterans with disabilities: health care, housing, income and mental health, all at once.What worries me most is what happens at the handover. A veteran who has been receiving structured support may return to a building with stairs, a bathroom that cannot fit a wheelchair, limited transport, and relatives who have never been shown how to help him safely. The challenges become less visible to institutions at exactly the point when they become part of the family’s daily routine.Let me be clear: an amputation does not automatically mean dependence. Many veterans will regain a great deal of independence. But some will need help with transfers, bathing, dressing, travel, equipment or paperwork. Discharge should spell out what the veteran can do on his own, which services will continue, and what a relative is actually being asked to take on. What “Family Care” Really Means“Family care” sounds warm and natural. But the phrase can hide who is doing the work, and what it costs her.Women already carry a disproportionate share of unpaid care and household work in Ukraine. When an injured veteran returns home, mobility assistance, hygiene, rehabilitation exercises and additional appointments can be added to responsibilities that may already include cooking, cleaning, caring for children or older relatives, and organizing medicines and household needs.The numbers are striking. According to UN Women, citing the latest Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment, women in Ukraine spent 55 hours a week on unpaid work, including care, in 2023, compared with 39 hours for men. By 2024, women were spending 56 hours a week on childcare alone, up from 49 hours before the war.These figures do not measure care for injured veterans specifically. But they show the amount of unpaid work women may already be carrying before another layer of responsibility is added.That additional responsibility can affect more than a woman’s time. If a veteran needs significant assistance, a partner or family member may have to reduce her working hours, turn down employment or training opportunities, or leave paid work altogether. In other households, she may become the main earner while also managing care at home. Either way, the consequences can extend to her income, independence and ability to make choices about her own future.The cost is not only financial. Care can require physical effort, emotional energy and constant coordination: arranging appointments, obtaining equipment, navigating benefits, managing transport and supporting someone living with pain or distress.These responsibilities may change as rehabilitation progresses, but they do not necessarily disappear when a veteran leaves the rehabilitation centre.This is why I believe we need to look at veterans’ recovery through a gender lens. The question is not simply whether women will provide care. It is what they are expected to do, how that work affects their own lives, and what support reaches them. The Risks We Must NameHomecoming can bring pressures that no family should have to face alone.A veteran may return with depression, trauma, chronic pain or phantom limb pain. Some may struggle with alcohol or other substance use as they cope with pain, distress or the difficulties of returning home. Relatives can offer emotional support, but specialist care and pain management remain responsibilities of health services.Families need to know that help exists and how to reach it.Roles at home can shift, too. A veteran may take on more childcare while his partner becomes the main earner. In another household, she may have to cut back paid work to provide care. These arrangements can work well, but long-held expectations about men’s and women’s roles can make them difficult to negotiate.We must also talk about safety. The UNFPA-led Voices from Ukraine 2024 study describes domestic and intimate partner violence in wartime, economic dependence, stigma and barriers to seeking help, including difficulties disclosing abuse involving men returning from war. It is qualitative research, not a measure of how often violence occurs in veterans’ households. But it highlights why caregiver support should include confidential information and safe pathways to assistance.For a woman living in an unsafe relationship, seeking help may itself be difficult. She may not have privacy to make a call, money to travel, childcare, confidence that information will remain confidential, or the freedom to ask for help without others in the household knowing. Economic dependence can make the decision even harder.That does not mean that injured veterans should be viewed as a category of perpetrators. Veterans with disabilities may themselves need protection and support. It means that services supporting families need to recognize that safety cannot be assumed simply because care is taking place inside a family home.And this is precisely why protection cannot be an afterthought. Asking a woman to disclose whether she feels unsafe, without having confidential referral pathways and appropriate support available, risks identifying a problem without giving her a safe way forward.Barriers Behind the Front DoorA service that exists on paper is not the same as a service a caregiver can reach.A wheelchair that works in a clinic may not pass through a doorway at home. Benefits, prosthetic services, housing assistance and psychosocial support often sit with different institutions, and families may have to find them, establish eligibility and pursue decisions while still providing care.A woman without childcare, or without someone to stay with the veteran, may struggle to keep her job, attend training or even go to her own medical appointment. Over time, this can turn an already demanding caring role into a constraint on her own health, income and independence.Voices from Ukraine 2024 identifies barriers including travel costs, limited accessible transport, lack of time, inadequate information, childcare responsibilities, stigma, distrust and concerns about confidentiality. These barriers matter particularly when a woman needs psychosocial, legal or protection support and cannot safely or privately access it.This is why support for the caregiver cannot consist simply of telling her where services exist. It needs to take account of whether she can actually reach them, afford them, attend them and use them safely.What Support Should Look LikeThe transition from rehabilitation to home cuts across health, veterans’ services, social protection, housing, livelihoods and the response to gender-based violence. A family may encounter each system separately, even though the pressures arrive together.The answer should therefore begin before discharge and continue after the veteran returns home.First, rehabilitation and discharge planning should assess both the veteran’s needs and the home environment. This should include what the veteran can do independently, what rehabilitation will continue, what equipment is needed, what adaptations may be required and what assistance, if any, is expected from relatives.Second, the prospective caregiver should be recognized as a person with her own needs, choices and rights. She should receive practical information and training for any tasks she has agreed to undertake, without services becoming conditional on her willingness to provide unpaid care.Third, families should receive clear, accessible information and help navigating services and entitlements. Rehabilitation, prosthetics, social protection, transport, home adaptations, childcare, psychosocial support and livelihood assistance should not become a maze that families are expected to navigate alone.Fourth, caregivers need support to protect their own livelihoods and well-being. Depending on the circumstances, this could include respite, childcare, livelihood assistance, flexible access to services and psychosocial support.Finally, protection must be built into the system safely and confidentially. Women should be given information about available gender-based violence services without being required to disclose abuse. Where a woman asks for help or a protection concern is identified, established survivor-centred referral pathways should be available and safe to use.None of this should diminish the veteran’s autonomy. Quite the opposite. A well-supported caregiver can help create the conditions in which a veteran can regain greater independence, while the caregiver is not expected to sacrifice her own health, income or future in the process. From Commitment to ActionUkraine will be caring for its wounded for decades. Government, civil society and the United Nations have an opportunity now to make sure that the transition from rehabilitation to home does not leave families to manage the consequences alone.For the Government of Ukraine and rehabilitation authorities, this means making the caregiver visible in discharge planning: assessing home conditions and continuing care needs, connecting rehabilitation centres with local health, veterans’, social protection and housing services, and making information on benefits, equipment and home adaptations easier to access.For civil society, veterans’ organizations, women’s organizations and organizations of persons with disabilities, this means strengthening the support around families: developing practical guidance and peer networks, helping households navigate local services and entitlements, and providing or connecting caregivers with psychosocial, livelihood, childcare and respite support.For the United Nations and international partners, this means helping build and connect these systems: bringing together expertise on rehabilitation, disability inclusion, livelihoods, social protection, mental health and gender-based violence; supporting government and Ukrainian organizations to develop family-inclusive approaches; and funding assessment and evaluation that measure outcomes for both veterans and the people who care for them.The first step is also to listen. The experience of women caregivers, injured veterans, rehabilitation providers and organizations of persons with disabilities should shape how these approaches are designed and where gaps remain. But consultation should strengthen action, not replace it.We should not have to choose between supporting veterans and supporting the women beside them. If we want injured veterans to rebuild their lives with dignity and independence, we must also make sure that the women who help them do so are not left to carry the weight of recovery alone.