Children in crisis amid Russia’s war in Ukraine took center stage during a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, as UN members cited numerous staggering statistics and once again called on Moscow to end to the war.
World leaders condemned Russia’s deadly invasion and the effects it has had on global food shortages, the rise in internationally displaced people and the energy crisis into which it has helped plunge the world.
“Last Thursday, the UN released its global humanitarian overview for 2023, which set another record with 339 million people in need of assistance and a price tag of $51 billion,” US Ambassador Lisa Carty said Tuesday. “Russia’s aggression triggered one of the biggest refugee and displacement crises since World War II.”
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A man carries his son away from the shell-damaged maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine
(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
“President Putin has focused his anger and fire on the civilian population of Ukraine,” he went on to point to Moscow’s constant attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“These consequences are terrible and cause unnecessary suffering,” he added. “Children cannot attend school and doctors cannot treat the sick.”
Two-thirds of all children have been displaced, 2,500 schools destroyed or damaged and 5 million children unable to attend school, authorities said.
But apart from the devastation that Russia’s war has caused to Ukraine’s infrastructure, UN officials also pointed to the psychological effect it has had on Ukraine’s younger generations.
“1.5 million children are at risk of suffering from depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and other conditions that require mental health interventions,” said the ambassador in Mexico.
Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said some 765,000 children have received psychosocial support to help them cope with the effects of the war.
“I make no apologies for the stream of really scary statistics,” Griffiths said. “Since February, 1,148 children have been killed or injured, while millions have fled, been uprooted from their homes, separated from their families or exposed to violence.”
World leaders also said they were concerned about sexual and gender-based violence, as well as the human trafficking of which children have been victims.
A boy copies the position of Ukrainian servicemen standing during the national anthem during an event marking Unity Day in Sievierodonetsk, in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, February 16, 2022.
(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
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“According to reports, thousands of Ukrainian children have been transferred to Russia for adoption and neutering through simplified and expedited procedures without the consent of their parents or legal guardians,” the Norwegian delegate said.
“The statistics we have heard from the UN today are shocking,” added UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward. “The trauma inflicted by Russia will last for generations.”
The delegate from Ireland echoed these sentiments, saying that Ukrainian children have been “stolen their childhood” and “denied the right to education.”
Russia rejected the international condemnation it faced once again on Tuesday, suggesting that its troops were attacking civilian areas because Ukraine had erected air defense systems in those areas.
Approximately 40 percent of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed and is contributing to the nearly 18 million in Ukraine in need of humanitarian assistance, including the nearly 7 million who have been internally displaced.
A woman holds a child in a makeshift bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine, Monday, March 7, 2022.
(AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov))
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Authorities warned Tuesday that the repercussions of Russia’s war would affect not only succeeding generations in Ukraine but throughout the world.
“Humanitarian needs are accelerating, and this is especially true for winter,” warned the Assistant Secretary General. “But I put it within that larger context of a world gone mad, which sees 1 in 23 people in need of humanitarian assistance across the globe.
“It’s an image that is unimaginable,” added Griffiths.
