A strategic session on children in armed conflict was co-chaired by Advisor – President's Commissioner for Children's Rights and Children's Rehabilitation Daria Herasymchuk and UNICEF Ukraine Representative Murat Sahin.
As part of the Bring Kids Back UA program, prepared on the instructions of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a Ukrainian interagency working group, together with UN agencies and structures in Ukraine, has begun working on a strategy for implementing the Joint Action Plan to prevent and stop gross violations of children's rights in the context of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.
In the first part of the strategic session, UNICEF Ukraine's Child Protection in Emergencies Manager Michelle Oliel presented the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism launched in Ukraine since the Russian armed forces and armed groups were included in the "list of shame" of violators of the UN Secretary-General's Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict.
"The decisions that are made and the efforts that are made at the international level depend on how we work together today," Michelle Oliel commented.
During the strategic session, proposals were developed for further joint steps to prevent the recruitment and use of Ukrainian children, their murder and maiming, sexual violence against them, attacks on schools and hospitals, and abductions of young Ukrainian citizens by Russia.
"We protect our children by all means and work to ensure that every action we take, every preventive step we take, influences the Russian Federation and forces the Russian aggressor to stop its criminal activities. And today, as we work with the UN to develop an implementation strategy for preventing and combating violations against children in the context of Russia's armed aggression, we are taking steps to save them from the horrors of war and return every Ukrainian child," said Daria Herasymchuk.
In a month, the next joint meeting of the Ukrainian interagency working group will be held with the participation of the heads of UN agencies in Ukraine, where all the proposals and practical steps developed to date will be presented to the United Nations for further implementation.