Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh Quotes King Charles at Sexual Violence Survivors' Rights Conference in Ukraine
The Duchess of Edinburgh was invited to speak at the summit by Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska, who recently met with Queen Camilla
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Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh attends the National Service of Remembrance at The Cenotaph on November 12, 2023 in London; King Charles III leaves The London Clinic on January 29 in London.Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh referenced words of support King Charles sent to Ukraine in a video message at the Restoration of the Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Survivors’ Rights Conference held in the country.
On Monday, the Duchess of Edinburgh, 59, virtually addressed the meeting in Kyiv, where she quoted the message her brother-in-law issued on the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. King Charles, 75, has postponed public-facing duties while receiving cancer treatment but continues to work behind the scenes and made the statement on Feb. 24.
“His Majesty The King recently said, ‘Ukrainians continue to show the heroism with which the world associates them so closely,” Sophie said in a clip of the speech shared on X by the royal family's official account. “Your Excellency The First Lady, all survivors, and the women and men helping to end conflict and build peace here in Ukraine, I am full of admiration for you all,” she continued, referring to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his wife, first Olena Zelenska and those gathered at the summit in Kyiv.
"We must stand shoulder to shoulder with all survivors to secure justice and holistic redress."
The Duchess of Edinburgh has addressed, via video message, the Restoration of the Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Survivors’ Rights Conference in Ukraine.— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 4, 2024
“Survivors here and around the world have spoken out so bravely about their experiences. They are the most powerful advocates who remind us all that we must not turn our backs on the horrors of this crime. We must never forget the survivors,” the Duchess of Edinburgh said. “Rather, we must stand shoulder to shoulder with all survivors to secure justice and holistic redress, and ensure that this crime isn’t an accepted part of conflict. Their rights, and their voices, must be at the heart of all our efforts to consign conflict-related sexual violence to the history books.”
Sophie spoke at the Restoration of the Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Survivors’ Rights Conference in her role as a champion of the U.K. government’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI).
The conference came a few days before International Women’s Day on Friday, March 8. According to her royal bio, the Duchess of Edinburgh committed to championing PSVI and the U.N.’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) initiative on International Women’s Day in 2019, and has made supporting women in conflict around the world a key part of her public work ever since.
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Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, urvivors and guests at the City of Joy, in Bukavu, South Kivu Province, during a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo in October 2022.In her speech on Monday, the Duchess of Edinburgh revealed that she was invited to speak at the survivors’ rights conference by Zelenska, who met with Queen Camilla in London last week a few days after the second anniversary of the Russian invasion. Sophie cited a harrowing statistic in her address, mentioning that the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has recorded over 120,000 incidents of alleged war crimes committed during the conflict.
The Duchess of Edinburgh, who is married to King Charles’ younger brother Prince Edward, also spoke to the scale of the crisis of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) around the world, “from Myanmar to Ethiopia, from Colombia to Sudan,” plus the Middle East and Ukraine.
“The devastation of conflict-related sexual violence, we know is not only confined to the survivors and the children born of rape but is felt by the families as well as whole communities, which is why it is so effective as a tactic of warfare,” Sophie said in part, according to an official transcription.
“Rape requires no training, no armory, no financial backing, but is as devastating as bullets and bombs not only in the immediacy of the attacks but for the rest of the victim’s and their family’s lives. And let’s be clear it is illegal — in fact, it is pure evil. Conflict-related sexual violence must end now.”
While members of the British royal family traditionally do not comment on political matters, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, like King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton, have shown support for Ukraine amid the conflict.
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Prince Edward and Sophie poignantly met with members of the Ukrainian community during their first visit to the Scottish capital in March 2023 after King Charles pronounced his youngest brother the Duke of Edinburgh (their father Prince Philip’s former title) on his 59th birthday.
During the reception, Prince Edward and Sophie, who are parents to daughter Lady Louise Windsor, 20, and son James, Earl of Wessex, 16, met members of the Ukrainian and Eastern European diaspora in Edinburgh, including families who have made the city their home since the beginning of the conflict in 2022.
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