People´s Deputies, representatives
of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariate, central executive authority
bodies and public organizations attended the sitting.
Olena Bondarenko, Chairman of the Sub-Committee on International-Legal Issues and Gender Policy, presented the booklet and stated that it includes all the materials and reports of the round table discussion held on 19 February 2009. It is for the first time that the status of men in Ukraine was discussed within the scope of provision of equal rights and possibilities of men and women.
According to O.Bondarenko, the National Security and Defense Council intends to study the situation concerning observance of equal rights and possibilities of men and women in Ukraine.
The People´s Deputy deems necessary to set up an initiative group including the representatives of governmental and non-governmental institutions and independent experts to draft and present a comprehensive action plan on the said issues.
The attendants of the sitting discussed the following matters: the life span of men, the status of reproductive health, spreading of smoking and alcohol consumption, drug addiction, high rate of suicide among the men, domestic crimes, etc.
To settle the above-mentioned matters, it is necessary to amend the governmental programs in the fields of gender equality and reproductive health, developing special measures to overcome the present-day negative tendencies in the status of men.