27/04/2022 (Agence Europe) – The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has sent a letter to the Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, expressing its concern about the increase in sexual violence, including rape, being used as a weapon of war in Ukraine, according to a statement issued on Wednesday 27 April. Above all, according to the ETUC Women’s Committee, there is a need to facilitate access to sexual health care in host countries for Ukrainian women and girls fleeing the Russian invasion. “It is nothing less than a prolongation of human rights violations on European soil if women who are victims of war crimes in Ukraine are denied access to safe terminations of pregnancies”, says the ETUC, which is particularly concerned about the effective ban on abortion in Poland and the rollback of women’s rights in Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. (PH)