The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNHCR , UNICEF
Bi-Weekly Press Briefing: Ukraine war one year - UNICEF, UNHCR, IFRC
Children in Ukraine have endured violence, trauma, loss, destruction and displacement since the Russian full-scale invasion in February 2022, leaving 4.1 million children in need of humanitarian assistance inside the country, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
“We have data that 487 children have been killed and 954 injured inside Ukraine and those are verified estimates alongside OHCHR (the UN human rights office and its monitoring mission in Ukraine), and the use of explosive weapons causing those child casualties,” said Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, speaking to the media at the United Nations in Geneva.
Schools, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure on which children depend continue to be damaged or destroyed. UNICEF estimates that more than 800 health facilities were shelled in the last year, while an estimated 1.5 million children have suffered severe mental health trauma, having experienced the war.
“We see health facilities damaged or destroyed by shelling,” said Ms. Khan. “This has serious repercussions on the ability to provide basic services to children inside Ukraine. The mental health disorders for children who have witnessed family members killed and injured, losing friends, losing neighbours”.
Families have been separated and lives torn apart, UN humanitarians have warned, as fighting continues in the east and south of Ukraine. As part of the response, UNICEF has helped 1.4 million children with formal and informal education. The UN agency has also provided 224,000 households with multi-purpose cash assistance.
“We have focused very much on cash assistance to families inside Ukraine,” said UNICEF’s Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia. “The figure is several hundred million(s) of dollars in cash assistance, and we have targeted by focusing on children and families with large numbers of dependents and children with a disability.”
Children who have been separated from their parents are also at higher risk of abuse, exploitation and trafficking as they flee violence, UNICEF warned. It estimates that two million Ukrainian children have crossed into neighbouring countries as refugees and another 2.5 million are displaced inside the country.
On the overall number of displacements caused by the war in Ukraine, Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that “we are looking unfortunately at a situation where there are 13 million people who have been uprooted from their homes and among those there are eight million refugees who fled across Europe, and more than five million people who are internally displaced within the country”.
Providing mental health to the Ukrainian population is also one of the priorities of UN partner, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
“One of the top issues that we are seeing and need to highlight are the psychological wounds that are not only adding another cruel layer of pain to people already struggling to cope, the anguish and the torment of the last year has hit people very hard, and this continues,” said Birgitte Bischoff Ebbesen IFRC’s Regional Director for Europe. She added that “people are right now living in freezing temperatures without power, heat and in some cases without water due to the damages of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure”.
For those Ukrainians who have left the country and are trying to settle elsewhere, they are burdened with administrative hurdles in addition to their suffering from the war. “Some are now facing what we can call a ‘red tape nightmare’ of providing qualifications – and of proving qualifications - and training in order to be able to find and get work”, said IFRC’s Europe Director. “Accreditations are needed, legal attestations of documents and in some cases, this is super complex and costly for people who are dealing with many other issues at the same time.”
-ends-
STORY: Ukraine war one year – UNICEF, UNHCR, IFRC
TRT: 2:43 mins
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 24 February 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Medium shot, UN Geneva flag alley.
- Wide shot, press room with moderator and screens with speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia: “We have data that 487 children have been killed and 954 injured inside Ukraine and those are verified estimates alongside OHCHR and the use of explosive weapons causing those child casualties”.
- Medium shot, camera women and journalists in the background
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia: ”We see health facilities as well damaged or destroyed by shelling. This has serious repercussions on the ability to provide basic services to children inside Ukraine. The mental health disorders for children who have witnessed family members killed and injured, losing friends, losing neighbors”.
- Medium shot, podium with speakers + screen and journalists
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia: “We have focused very much on cash assistance to families inside Ukraine. The figure is several hundred million of dollars in cash assistance, and we have targeted by focusing on children and families with large numbers of dependents and children with a disability”.
- Close up, journalist working with laptop
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Shabia Mantoo, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “We are looking unfortunately at a situation where there are 13 million people who have been uprooted from their homes and among those there are eight million refugees who fled across Europe, and more than five million people who are internally displaced within the country”.
- Wide shot, journalist from behind with Shabia Mantoo speaking at the podium
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Birgitte Bischoff Ebbesen (Zoom from Budapest), IFRC Regional Director for Europe: “One of the top issues that we are seeing and need to highlight are the psychological wounds that are not only adding another cruel layer of pain to people already struggling to cope, the anguish and the torment of the last year has hit people very hard, and this continues”.
- Medium shot, journalists working at their laptops
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Birgitte Bischoff Ebbesen (Zoom from Budapest), IFRC Regional Director for Europe: “People are right now living in freezing temperatures without power, heat and in some cases without water due to the damages of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure”.
- Medium shot, journalists in press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Birgitte Bischoff Ebbesen (Zoom from Budapest), IFRC Regional Director for Europe: “Also, some are now facing what we can call a ‘red tape nightmare’ of proofing qualifications - and of proving qualifications - and training in order to be able to find and get work. Accreditations are needed, legal attestations of documents and in some cases, this is super complex and costly for people who are dealing with many other issues at the same time”.
- Medium shot, screen with speakers on the left, journalists sitting on the right
- Wide shot, camerawoman filming, journalists in the background
- Close up, hands typing on laptop
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF , UNWOMEN
In the almost three years since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the country’s people have endured “psychological terror…displacement and hardship”, top UN aid coordinator Matthias Schmale said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press briefing the UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani made the following comments: “The situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is deteriorating sharply, resulting in serious human rights violations and abuses, such as summary executions, including of children, and conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence. There have also been attacks on hospitals and humanitarian warehouses, as well as threats against the judiciary.”
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , OHCHR
DR Congo: Children executed in Bukavu, UN Human Rights office says
The UN Human Rights office, OHCHR, confirmed cases of summary execution of children by the Rwanda-backed M23 militia after they captured the provincial capital of Bukavu at the week-end.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNHCR
DR Congo displacement, health crisis worsens amid dwindling aid access – UN humanitarians
In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a dire displacement crisis is escalating as M23 rebels make headway while aid routes are cut off, UN humanitarians warned on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At a press conference in Geneva, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, presented a report on the human rights violations and abuses related to the protests that took place in Bangladesh between 1 July and 15 August last year. The report is based on a comprehensive investigation undertaken by an interdisciplinary team of investigators from the UN Human Rights Office, including a forensic specialist and weapons expert.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN Human Rights Office today released a comprehensive, in-depth report on the human rights violations and abuses related to the protests that took place in Bangladesh last year, drawing on over 250 interviews with victims, witnesses, medics and senior officials, as well as individual pieces of digital information. The team also received thousands of submissions from individuals in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNOG
Gaza: a return to war must be avoided at all costs, insists UN chief
A return to war in Gaza must be avoided at all costs, UN Secretary-General António Guterres insisted on Tuesday, amid fears that the three-week old ceasefire agreement between Hamas fighters and Israel is about to end.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday warned of the risk of the violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo escalating throughout the Great Lakes sub-region, following the recent takeover of Goma city by the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group.
1
1
1
Edited News | HRC
UN human rights chief Volker Türk expressed profound concerns at the ongoing violent escalation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) caused by the ongoing Rwanda-backed M23 offensive. “If nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come, for the people of the eastern DRC, but also beyond the country’s borders,” he told a Special Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNAIDS
US aid funding cuts create confusion, put HIV prevention at risk, says UNAIDS
The US pause in foreign assistance funding has created “a lot of confusion” in community HIV prevention work, despite the waiver issued for HIV/AIDS programmes, the UN agency to combat AIDS (UNAIDS) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNFPA , OCHA , UNOG
UN agencies offered a dire assessment on Tuesday about the global impact of deep cuts to grassroots humanitarian funding by the incoming US administration and reiterated calls for Washington to retain its position as a global aid leader.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
While West Bank camp is destroyed, UNRWA delivers bulk of aid in Gaza
Large swathes of Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank have been completely destroyed following a series of controlled detonations by the Israeli security forces (ISF), the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.