We are responsible for our children – message by Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, Personal Representative of the Chairman-in-Office on Children and Security
VIENNA, 11 March 2022 - I received the following WhatsApp message on 2 March from a Nigerian mother and her husband, both of them students in Ukraine, asking for help:
“On 24 February, when the war started, we were in Kyiv, and I suddenly went into labour because of the shock of the bombs. I was able to get to the hospital and deliver the baby. But then very close to the hospital, they threw bombs again, several times. It was terrifying to know that you can’t even help your baby if anything happens. The next morning, we were told to leave the hospital and look for shelter. Shops were closed and we hadn’t stocked our house with food. We heard the bombs close to the house. Yesterday, luckily, we were able to take a train and go to Uzhhorod and then pass the border to Hungary. We got us a little shelter where we can stay for the time being. It’s cold, really cold here but I was able to cover the baby, I used my body to wrap the baby around, so he doesn’t freeze.”
Within a day, with the help of some amazing and caring friends in Budapest, we managed to find them a safe place to stay, where they are now trying to overcome the trauma they went through.
Their precious newborn, just like millions of other babies and children, is experiencing a war that he knows nothing about. Children in shelters with no possibility of movement, no school or playground in sight. Children on the move, often without papers, accompanied by their mothers and grandparents, or worse, unaccompanied, left all alone, freezing, exposed to insecurity and uncertainty. These children are living through severe trauma that may interfere with their ability to live a normal life.
These children know nothing about article 38 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, which makes clear that States must respect international humanitarian law, protect civilian populations in armed conflicts, and ensure the protection and care of children who are affected by armed conflict.
These children do not know that OSCE participating States decided in 1990 to accord particular attention to the recognition of the rights of the child. That in 1999 they committed themselves to actively promote children's rights and interests, especially in conflict and post-conflict situations, and to pay particular attention to the physical and psychological well-being of children involved in or affected by armed conflict.
However we do know this and we must do everything in our power to uphold these principles and commitments.
Children in Ukraine are being killed, wounded, and traumatized for a lifetime. According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as of 7 March 2022, there were 1,335 civilian casualties; 29 children were killed and 41 children were injured.
The true number of casualties may be much higher, especially due to the more intense hostilities that are taking place now. There are reports of hospitals, maternity wards, schools, water and sanitation facilities and orphanages being under fire. There are several reported cases of shelling of educational facilities.
By 8 March, two million Ukrainians had fled the country. Hundreds of thousands of people are on the move, searching for shelter and safety, including in neighboring countries. Half of them are children. According to UNICEF, humanitarian needs across the country are multiplying by the hour. Thousands of families are without safe drinking water and many have been cut off from access to other essential services. There is a shortage of critical medical supplies. All 7.5 million children of Ukraine are now extremely vulnerable.
We must remember those most vulnerable, orphans, undocumented or stateless children, children with severe illness or disability, those in need of continuous care and medication. Roma children, children in marginalized communities and those whose skin color results in additional barriers while fleeing and seeking help.
The shelling in urban areas causing death and injury to civilians must stop. Humanitarian corridors must be secured and safe passage guaranteed to civilians. Children must be kept safe. Basic services and facilities, including psychosocial support and trauma counselling, must be allowed to operate and to deliver essential assistance to all children in need, regardless of their status and ethnic background. It is imperative to integrate children’s rights and children’s protection into mediation processes and peace negotiations.
We must act as role models for our children. We should demonstrate how a global rules-based system can work to their benefit. The longer this conflict goes on, the more difficult it will become not only to heal, restore normal life, rebuild the country, and repair a torn social fabric. It will also be more difficult to raise a new generation able to act towards one another in a spirit of kinship, as the most basic international human rights norm, article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, expects from all of us.