Almost half of the Ukrainian refugees who are now in Moldova are children who were driven away from their own homes, from their schools and kindergartens by the war. Some of them came with relatives or accompanied by other persons, while others entered the Republic of Moldova alone. According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the signatory states are obliged to take appropriate measures to ensure rights, benefits and humanitarian protection for the children affected by the war. The experts invited to a public debate hosted by IPN discussed what the Ukrainian citizens will recollect of the war, countries and people.
Igor Boțan, the standing exert of IPN’s project, said that UN Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the UN General Assembly in November 1989 is the most important international legal framework on children’s rights. This was ratified by Moldova’s Parliament and has been applied in Moldova since February 1993. “This Convention actually clarifies the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by which the United Nations noted that the children have the right to special assistance and aid. But the international community has made effort to defend children’s rights since after World War I. It goes to the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1924 and the Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted by the UN General Assembly on November 20, 1959, prior to the adoption of the current Convention,” he stated.
The expert noted that the current situation is special because children refugees are involved and their number is very large. In this regard, the Convention has very clear provisions according to which the states are obliged to take appropriate measures to make sure that a child applying for the status of refugee or enjoying this status benefit from rights. The Convention provides that the signatory states are obliged to take steps to find the parents of unaccompanied children.
Speaking about the international institutions dealing with children’s rights, the expert mentioned the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, when the refugees are children. In the country, the situation is coordinated by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and the Ministry of Education.
Vitalii Timish, adviser of the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Moldova, said the figures concerning the number of children affected by the war in Ukraine, including those who died, are approximate as the Ukrainian state does not control the whole territory of the country today. “If we speak about the death of a child, two or three children, we speak about a tragedy. But if we speak about tens, hundreds or even thousands of children, God forbid, this is statistics already and I don’t know how important they are, if only for international courts of law, which I hope will do their job and the authors of this massacre, of the war not against a state or a nation, but rather against the children, will be held accountable,” stated Vitalii Timish.
According to him, the figures now show that 169 children died shot, under the debris or in other ways in the war in Ukraine. Most of the children suffered near Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv, with at least 86 cases being documented there. The figures are worrisome, but do not show the reality and, regrettably, the results will be at least several times higher,” said the diplomat.
He noted that besides these concrete victims, there are many internally-displaced children. “It comes to over 8 million persons who fled the most seriously stricken areas. Against the size of the population, at least 2 million of them are children. Besides internal displacement, many people leave the country. Approximate statistics show that at least 4 million Ukrainian people fled the country and about 45% of them are children. Forced evacuation by the Russian Federation, like in Donbas region or in Rostov, is another phenomenon. The general picture is rather dreadful. The figures are frightening,” stated Vitalii Timish.
Mariana Yanakevich, AO AVE Copiii executive director, said that any child who suffers because of the war and who gets to the Republic of Moldova or another state should be protected, should live with dignity and should be reintegrated into the family at the opportune moment. “As rather many refugees came to our country, we tried to document and to convey this message to the mates in Ukraine and in other European partner states so that it is transmitted primarily to the governments. Absolutely all the children should be mandatorily registered and supervised and the authorities in Kyiv should be informed about absolutely all the children who are in all the corners of the world. It is a difficult, but important exercise, primarily for each of these children and secondly for Ukraine, as a state that needs to take care of the own citizens, this time with our assistance,” stated Mariana Yanakevich.
“I’m proud to be a citizen of the Republic of Moldova, first of all because the ordinary citizens during the first weeks actually bore the heaviest burden and did most of what was done. The ordinary citizens accommodated a lot of refugees. Our association now works with Ungheni district, for the whole Ungheni district. Until all the refugees get access to guaranteed assistance through UNHCR, we undertook to help all the families with children at least this month. Those who were accommodated by citizens in Ungheni received financial assistance depending on the need so as to be able to purchase essential things. The people came in winter, even without warm clothes, with babies who grow up swiftly and need to be dressed appropriately. We made effort to offer decent conditions.”
According to the executive director of AO AVE Copiii, the association also works with placement centers. “Decent living means not only a bed and bed linen, but also hygiene and sanitary products and other things and assistance fort health was also offered. Food parcels are provided to children and to grownups. The unaccompanied children were placed in Cărpineni,” said Mariana Yanakevich.
The public debate entitled “What will Ukrainian children recollect of war, countries and people?” was the 235th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
