Preying on the innocent
Plan to protect children from traffickers
CHARITIES are racing to stop predatory crooks snatching child refugees, amid reports of kids going missing after crossing Ukraine’s borders.
More than 2.5million desperate people – including over 1million children – have already fled for their lives from Putin’s invasion.
While most have found safety, some have fallen victim to trafficking, extortion and abuse.
More measures to protect children are now being brought in after claims drivers at checkpoints offering free lifts across Europe had been subject to “minimal checks”.
Under UNICEF’s scheme, refugees will be directed to Blue Dot centres so “unaccompanied and separated” youngsters can be identified by child protection officers.
It is working alongside refugee charity UNHCR to ensure all are officially registered so nobody can slip through the cracks.
Blue Dot sites have so far been set up in Romania and Moldova.
British UNICEF emergencies specialist Joe English is co-ordinating the set-up in Poland.
Joe, from Oxford, explained: “Sexual exploitation and abuse, trafficking, abduction – the chaos of people uprooting their lives in a very short period of time means there are actors with motives, as it’s an easy way to prey on children. Normally checks would be made at the border to identify unaccompanied kids, but the sheer scale and chaos of this means this hasn’t always happened, which can leave them at risk.
“So we plan to have child protection specialists and counsellors within these spaces to identify vulnerable families and children.”
The term “unaccompanied” refers to children travelling alone, but also to those with adults who are not their parent or guardian.
Counsellors are identifying the most traumatised kids using play, drawing and colouring sessions at the Blue Dot centres so they can be given specialist attention.
Also assisting at the border are two doctors from British hospitals
who drove 1,000 miles to deliver lifesaving medical supplies to treat wounded Ukrainian troops. We met Dennis Ougrin and Roman Cregg – both from Ukraine – at the Humanitarian Aid Centre in Przemysl, Poland yesterday.
They had driven for 36 hours to bring desperately needed kit, including an ultrasound machine to help detect shrapnel inside the body, military-grade first aid packs and burns bandages.
Dennis, a professor of child psychology, and Roman, a consultant anaes
thetist, studied together in their home country and moved to the UK in 1998.
The pals, both 46, are part of the Ukrainian Medical Association of the UK, which is collaborating with dozens of British doctors to get supplies to the country. They set off on Thursday as part of a convoy of
three NHS ambulances carrying further equipment – including 200 defibrillators – which is due to arrive at the border this weekend.
Father-of-four Roman, of University College Hospital, central London, said: “It feels right to do this. Every Ukrainian life everywhere in the world changed two
Sexual exploitation, abuse, abduction... the chaos makes it easy for them to target kids
weeks ago, for good.” A fortnight ago Dennis, who works at Queen Mary’s Hospital, South London, and his wife Oksana Litynska, 45, brought a £21,000 ultrasound machine they paid for themselves. That very machine has already been used to treat wounded soldiers in Lviv.
The couple, who live in South
London, have since raised enough to cover the cost and buy a second ultrasound, which will be sent to a hospital in Khmelnytskyi, western Ukraine.
The military-grade first-aid kits will be handed to civilians-turned-soldiers.
Dennis said: “These first-aid kits are going to save a lot more [than the ultrasound machine] because many people are dying of bleeding.”
Meanwhile, the number of refugees is expected to hit at least 4million.
Among those already out is Anna Miroshmichenka, who carried her two-year-old son through icy chest-high water as they fled their village.
Little Domian was “freezing and wet” after Anna, 30, took him across the treacherous River Irpin, in Demidov, northeast of Kyiv. His grandmother
Tatiana, 54, wept as she cradled him after they reached Poland on Friday.
They arrived in Przemysl by train with Natalia Salgirieva, 40, and her daughter Amira, six, who was clutching her dog Richie and a rabbit.
Nataliya said they had dragged their luggage over a makeshift metal grate laid across the water after a bridge was bombed to keep out Russian tanks.
Others laid wooden boards across the river and dragged children over on top of boxes in an attempt to keep them warm and dry.
Nataliya said: “The children were so tired, so cold. We have no idea where we go now.”
■■To donate to the medics’ fund, visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ Dennis-Ougrin3
■■Or help kids via UNICEF UK’s appeal at unicef.uk/ukrainedonate.