Vaikai Ukrainoje nepasigailėjo net Tarptautinę vaikų gynimo dieną

On June 1, 2023, the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Denise Brown, marking International Children’s Day, condemned the crimes perpetrated by the Russian forces against children in Ukraine. As he indicated, over 1,500 children have been killed and injured in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. As the world was marking International Children’s Day, a 9-year-old girl was killed by falling debris after Russian forces attacked Kyiv.

As the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine confirmed, since February 2022, at least 525 children (276 boys, 219 girls, and 30 children, whose sex is not yet known) have been killed, and at least 1,047 have been injured in 289 cities, towns, and villages across Ukraine. According to their assessment, 87% of the casualties were caused by explosive weapons with wide area effects, including artillery, missile and air strikes, and loitering munitions attacks.

The significant effect of the war on children in Ukraine is an issue seen across many armed conflicts.

In June 2022, UNICEF published an update on the progress and challenges for children living in armed conflict, showing the impact of armed conflicts on children. According to the data, since 2005, more than 104,100 children have been verified as killed or maimed. More than two-thirds of these have been killed or maimed between 2014 and 2020, with an average of 10,500 children facing this fate each year. Between 2016 and 2020, 79% of all verified child casualties (about 41,900 children) occurred in only five countries: Afghanistan (30%), Israel and the State of Palestine (14%), Syria (13%), Yemen (13%) and Somalia (9%). State actors were responsible for at least 41% of all verified cases of child casualties between 2016 and 2020, and non-state actors for 31%.

Since 2005, more than 93,000 children have been verified as recruited and used by parties to conflict (with an average of 8,756 children annually between 2016-2020). Children were most affected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, and South Sudan.

Since 2005, more than 25,700 children have been verified as abducted, with 89% of all cases recorded in six countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria. The majority of these cases (90%), were perpetrated by non-state actors.

Since 2005, more than 14,200 children have been verified as subjected to rape and other sexual violence, although the number is expected to be much higher. Between 2016 and 2020, 92% of all verified cases were in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Sudan, South Sudan, and Nigeria.

Since 2005, more than 14,900 incidents of denial of humanitarian access have been verified. UNICEF further verified more than 13,900 attacks on schools and hospitals.

The UNICEF update published in 2022, considered verified data covering the years from 2005 until 2020. These figures do not represent the actual total number of children impacted. Furthermore, the information gathered pre-dated many significant armed conflicts, including Russia’s crime of aggression against Ukraine.

Children continue to be significantly affected by conflicts waged by others and protective measures continue to be failing. June 4 is the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, established by the U.N. General Assembly resolution on August 19, 1982. Its introduction arose in response to the atrocities perpetrated against Palestinian and Lebanese children. The main purpose of the U.N. Day is to “acknowledge the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse” and to affirm the U.N. commitment to the protection of the rights of children. It is crucial to explore what else needs to happen to ensure better protection of children in armed conflict.