Lesia Volodymyrivna Vasylenko (Ukrainian: Леся Володимирівна Василенко; born March 31, 1987) is a Ukrainian lawyer and politician serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine in the 9th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada. Vasylenko is a member of the Ukrainian permanent delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union's Bureau of Women Parliamentarians. She is the founder of Legal Hundred, a human rights non-governmental organization that provides assistance to servicemen and veterans.
Lesia Vasylenko | |
|---|---|
Леся Василенко | |
.jpg) Ukrainian parliamentarian Lesia Vasylenko | |
| People's Deputy of Ukraine | |
| Assumed office 29 August 2019 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Lesia Volodymyrivna Vasylenko 31 March 1987[1] Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Political party | Holos (2019–present) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent |
|
| Alma mater | Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv; University College London |
| Occupation | Lawyer, politician |
Early life and education
Vasylenko was born in Kyiv to Volodymyr Vasylenko, a human rights activist.[2] She completed a master's degree in international law at the Institute of International Relations of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and an LL.M. at University College London.[2]
Career
Vasylenko worked as a corporate lawyer.[2] At the beginning of the Euromaidan revolution in 2013, she protested frequently at the Maidan Nezalezhnosti.[2] After visiting a hospital during the war in Donbas in June 2014, Vasylenko learned that wounded soldiers were unaware of their rights to compensation.[2] Many of the soldiers she spoke with struggled to pay for their medical treatments. In January 2015, she founded Legal Hundred, a human rights non-governmental organization that provides assistance to servicemen and veterans.[3][2] In 2016, Vasylenko was named by the Kyiv Post as one of the top 30 young under-30 leaders.[4]
In June 2019, it was announced that Vasylenko and Oleksandra Ustinova would be joining the Holos party.[5] In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Vasylenko was elected a People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 9th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada.[6][7][8] She is a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management.[9] Vasylenko is a member of the permanent delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.[10] Vasylenko is a member of the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union[11] where she serves as president of its Bureau of Women Parliamentarians.[12] She is co-chair of the interparliamentary relations group to the United Kingdom.[13] On 12 December 2019, Vasylenko joined Humane country, an inter-factional association to promote humanistic values and prevent cruelty to animals.[14]
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vasylenko armed herself with several guns to protect her family.[15] She said on 26 February 2022 that the Russian military was targeting Ukrainian civilians to make the country surrender.[16] On 1 March, Vasylenko evacuated her three children from her home in Kyiv.[15] On 4 March, she said the invasion was the start of World War III.[17]
Vasylenko became one of the initiators of the international #unrussiaUN[18] campaign aimed at excluding Russia from the UN.
References
External links
Media related to Lesia Vasylenko at Wikimedia Commons
