UN Goodwill envoy calls to end war for children to ‘regain childhoods’ in Ukraine

Anjali Sharma

GG News Bureau

UNITED NATIONS, 28th March. Head of the IAEA Rafael Grossi on Monday met with Ukrainian President Zelensky  to discuss safety issues at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, as UN Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom concluded a visit to the country, called to end the war so children can “regain their childhoods”.

IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and visited the area around Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant to discuss ongoing threats.

Mr. Grossi underlined the urgent need to protect the power plant during the ongoing military conflict in the country assessing the serious nuclear safety and security situation.

IAEA teams are rotating in and out of the plant, which remains under the control of Russian forces.

“Despite our presence at the site for seven months now, the situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is still precarious,” Grossi said.

The nuclear safety and security dangers are all too obvious, he cautioned.

He stressed that it is necessary “to act now to prevent an accident with potential radiological consequences to the health and the environment for people in Ukraine and beyond”.

Mr. Grossi said his travel to Ukraine was to ensure the regular rotation of IAEA experts to and from the site is maintained and improved, after the very challenging circumstances faced by the experts during the previous rotation in February, which had been delayed by a month.

He was accompanied by a new group of IAEA experts, the seventh such team present at the site since the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya was established.

Mr. Grossi and Mr. Zelenskyy visited the Dnieper hydroelectric station, which is an essential component for nuclear safety at the Zaporizhzhya plant.

“I remain determined to continue doing everything in my power to help reduce the risk of a nuclear accident during the tragic war in Ukraine,” Mr. Grossi said.

UNICEF reported thousands of schools have been severely damaged or destroyed by bombing and shelling, left 2.7 million Ukrainian children accessing learning online or through hybrid modalities.

Some 1.5 million children in Ukraine are at risk of depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions, with long-term implications.

“Amid the chaos and uncertainty of war, supporting children’s education is an essential tool in protecting their long-term mental health and wellbeing,” Goodwill Ambassador said.

“Above all, children need an end to this war and sustained peace to regain their childhoods, return to normalcy and begin to heal and recover.”

He visited a bomb-shelter classroom, converted with UNICEF support, to provide a safe space for children to continue learning when air-raid sirens may sound.

Irpin, is heavily impacted by the early days of the fighting

“Some of the children I have met, such as 10-year-old Hanna from Volnovakha, Donetsk region, have had limited access to face-to-face education for more than a year,” Mr. Bloom said.

UNICEF’s Spilno Child Spots in Irpin and Kyiv, Mr. Bloom saw children play and learn.

They can benefit from psychosocial support, medical checks, and referrals to specialized services. He also met with President Zelenskyy to discuss educational challenges amidst the conflict.

“While UNICEF is helping ensure that children are able to learn online, they are still missing out on the crucial experience of interacting with their classmates and teachers,” Mr. Bloom said.

“Especially for younger children, these interactions are key for their emotional and cognitive development and cannot be replaced by a computer screen.”

In 2022, over 500,000 children and their caregivers visited 180 Spilno Spots across Ukraine.

UNICEF has provided education, health, nutrition, water and sanitation, and protection assistance to children and families affected by the war, including efforts in countries hosting refugees from Ukraine.

The agency is delivering for children inside Ukraine and in neighboring countries and requires $1.05 billion to meet the growing needs of 9.4 million people, including 4 million children, who remain deeply impacted by the war.

UN Security Council rejected a draft resolution that would have authorized an international independent investigation commission into the explosions in September last year, of the Russian-operated Nord Stream gas pipelines.

Brazil, China, and Russia voted for the draft, with no vote against it, and 12 Council members cast abstentions.

The two Nord Stream pipelines built to carry natural gas from Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea, sustained millions of dollars in damages from the blasts. National investigations have yet to yield any conclusive evidence into how the explosions occurred.

Nord Stream I carried gas to Germany from Russia until Moscow cut off supplies last August, while the second pipeline never became operational, after Germany suspended it’s involvement in the service just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Council had debated the issue in February, noted that investigations are ongoing by governments in the region.