Children ‘paying a high price’ as conflict drags on
The war in Ukraine is a ‘‘child rights crisis’’ where education is under attack, nearly 100 youngsters have been killed in just the last month, and millions more have been forced to flee their homes, United Nations children’s agency Unicef says.
Unicef deputy executive director Omar Abdi told the UN Security Council yesterday that children were paying ‘‘an unconscionably high price’’ in the war, with 239 confirmed killed and 355 wounded since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. He said the actual numbers were much higher.
‘‘These attacks must stop,’’ he said. ‘‘Ultimately, children need an end to this war – their futures hang in the balance.’’
Abdi said the school year came to a standstill after Russia invaded its smaller neighbour, and as of last week at least 15 of 89 Unicef-supported schools in eastern Ukraine had been damaged or destroyed.
‘‘Hundreds of schools across the country are reported to have been hit by heavy artillery, air strikes and other explosive weapons in populated areas, while other schools are being used as information centres, shelters, supply hubs, or for military purposes – with long-term impact on children’s return to education,’’ Abdi said.
‘‘It is estimated that 3.7 million children in Ukraine and abroad are using online and distance learning options.’’
Abdi and many security council members spoke about what he called a ‘‘horrifying attack’’ on a school in the eastern Ukrainian town of Bilohorivka last weekend, when a bomb hit while women and children sheltered in the building.
British Ambassador Barbara Woodward said there was evidence ‘‘that Russia is committing four of the security council’s six grave violations against children in times of war’’ – violations listed in a 1999 council resolution that condemned the targeting of children in conflict, as well as recruiting and using children as soldiers.
Woodward cited the killing and maiming of children, the targeting of schools and nurseries, ‘‘credible allegations of sexual violence against children by Russian forces’’, and continuing reports of forced deportations of over 700,000 people, including many mothers and children, from Ukraine to Russia.
‘‘There is now a very real risk of a lost generation, and the continuation of a cycle of violence, caused by Russia’s invasion and the devastation it has created,’’ she said.
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said his country’s armed forces ‘‘are making every effort to protect children during the course of the special military operation in Ukraine’’, and called accusations that they had sexually assaulted children ‘‘absurd’’. He accused Ukraine’s military of using many buildings and educational facilities as bases.
Ukraine’s UN ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya urged Unicef, the UN refugee agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross to demand that Russian authorities allow immediate access to thousands of Ukrainian children and adults taken to Russia.
A Russian soldier is scheduled to go on trial today over the killing of an unarmed Ukrainian civilian, the first time since the start of the invasion that a member of the Russian military will be prosecuted for a war crime.
Sergeant Vadim Shyshimarin stands accused of shooting the 62-year-old man in the head through an open car window in the northeastern village of Chupakhivka. He faces up to life in prison under the penalties spelled out in the section of the Ukrainian criminal code that addresses the laws and customs of war. – AP