Apakan says The SMM will continue to pursue initiatives as dialogue among women's NGO / Photo from osce.org

"We need the support of OSCE participating states in raising the number of women among OSCE monitors in Ukraine," the OSCE SMM tweeted on Friday, quoting Apakan as saying at the OSCE Security Days in Vienna on November 13.

"Women must be heard more and take an active role in the peace process" in Donbas, Apakan said.

In his words, "women are more likely to speak the language of peace rather than the language of war."

"The SMM will continue to pursue initiatives as dialogue among women's NGOs, pay particular attention to gender issues in monitoring," Apakan said.