Maria Mezentseva (

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

: Марія Сергіївна Мезенцева,

romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

: ''Mariia Serhiyivna Mezentseva'') is a

politician. Mezentseva was elected to

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...

, the Ukrainian parliament, in 2019. She holds several positions related to European integration, including deputy chairperson of the ''Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the European Union'' () and chairperson of the Ukrainian delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up o ...

().

Youth and early career

Maria Mezentseva was brought up in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine. She did an internship in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

with European political parties and the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

and returned to Ukraine during the late 2013, early 2014

Revolution of Dignity The Revolution of Dignity ( uk, Революція гідності, translit=Revoliutsiia hidnosti) also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution,

Political career

Ukraine

Mezentseva was elected to the

Kharkiv City Council Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

in 2015. In the

2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Snap elections to the Ukrainian parliament were held on 21 July 2019. Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October, these elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dissolv ...

, she was elected to the

, the Ukrainian parliament, representing Kharkiv, and as a member of the

Servant of the People Servant of the People (SN; uk, Слуга народу, Sluha narodu, ) is a liberal, centrist, pro-European political party in Ukraine. It was formed in late 2017 and was officially registered on 31 March 2018 on the basis of the previously ...

party. Mezentseva saw one of her political achievements as writing a law for the Verkhovna Rada that increased the integration of the Ukrainian market with the European market.

Europe

, Mezentseva was one of the deputy chairpersons of the ''Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the European Union''. , she was the chairperson of the Ukrainian delegation to the

(PACE). In November 2021, Mezentseva saw priorities for Ukraine in the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

(COE) to include "democracy and human rights, vaccination and the environment, sustainable development and displaced persons". She argued that

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

was a priority for Ukraine, and that Ukrainians were campaigning for the Verkhovna Rada to ratify the

Istanbul Convention The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, is a human rights treaty of the Council of Europe against violence against women and domestic v ...

that opposes

violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against women or girls, usually by men or boys. Such violence is often consi ...

and

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

. Mezentseva stated in November 2021 that Russian members of the COE responded to Ukrainian members with consistent aggression, with one Russian member, Petr Tolstoi, stating that all Ukrainians disagreeing with the Russian position "should be hung on lanterns". Mezentseva stated that the Ukrainian delegation filed a complaint under the PACE ''Code of Conduct''.

Russian invasion

During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, Mezentseva gave an interview with

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

about one victim of sexual violence and stated that there were "many more victims".

Points of view

In 2021, Mezentseva saw Ukraine as a young democracy, fighting for independence since 1917. She described herself as "a young person who does not represent particular international companies or organizations, having limited financial resources to campaign", and saw that as a sign that Ukraine democracy was developing positively. She was concerned about the influence of oligarchs in Ukraine. Mezentseva joined the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

group of the COE.

Personal life

In November 2021, Mezentseva stated that she was ill with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, infected by the

Delta variant The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) was a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in India in late 2020. The Delta variant was named on 31 May 2021 and had spread to over 179 countries by 22 November 2021. The ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mezentseva, Maria 1989 births Living people Ninth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Alumni of the University of Kent National University of Kharkiv alumni Politicians from Kharkiv Servant of the People (political party) politicians Ukrainian city councillors Women members of the Verkhovna Rada