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Children paying highest price in Ukraine's worsening humanitarian crisis: UNICEF

Xinhua, June 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) revealed on Friday that more than 240 children have been killed or injured in Ukraine since the conflict started last year.

UNICEF Representative to Ukraine Giovanna Barberis confirmed that "with violence in the Donetsk region seemingly on the rise, the world must not forget the thousands of children still living in areas under conflict and how every bullet, mortar or shell fired is a threat to their very survival and wellbeing."

At least 68 children have been reported killed, while 180 have been injured by the conflict affecting the country's Eastern regions.

UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac warned however that "the number of child victims is believed to be considerably higher given that many areas remain inaccessible because of the conflict."

Boulierac furthermore indicated that "some 109 children are reported to have been injured and 42 killed by landmines and unexploded ordnance in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Eastern Ukraine since March 2014."

UNICEF and its partners recently launched an education campaign to provide 500,000 children and their families with lifesaving information about the risks posed by landmines and explosives.

"Children living in or displaced from conflict-affected areas have been suffering from enormous levels of stress and have witnessed violent fighting and shelling," Boulierac continued.

UNICEF has provided psychosocial support to more than 20,000 boys and girls affected by the conflict through schools and community protection centres since the start of this year.

Only 13 percent of UNICEF's 55.8 million U.S. dollars appeal to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of children and families has been funded.

Now entering its second year, the Ukrainian crisis has affected over 5 million people, including 1.7 million children.

Close to 1.3 million people have been internally displaced, and over 6,400 people, including at least 626 women and girls, have been killed. Endit