Terre des hommes condemns the war in Ukraine, where multiple casualties, including among children, have been reported. We call on all parties to avoid all forms of violence and to protect the civilian population, in particular children. We remind that, under international humanitarian law, all necessary precautions must be taken to avoid civilian casualties.
Children are the first victims of war. Many of them are forced to leave their homes, are sometimes separated from their families, have to flee to other regions or abroad, experience mental health problems, get injured or even lose their lives.
We are deeply concerned about the safety, well-being and integrity, both physical and mental, of children in Ukraine. We reaffirm that the rights of children must be upheld and their protection ensured, regardless of their origin.
We call on all parties concerned to maintain access to basic services such as health, clean water and food. Families forced to leave their homes must be allowed by all parties to seek refuge and support to meet their protection needs.
Terre des hommes is present in Ukraine with an office in Kiev, a second one in Mariupol and a third one in Severodonetsk, about 20 km from the front line. We have 23 team members in Ukraine. We are glad that some colleagues are safe now, and at the same time we are deeply worried about other colleagues with whom we have not been able to communicate for a long time because of the constant shelling and infrastructure damage in the cities where they are.
Since the beginning of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine in 2014, we have been providing various services to children and their families, with a strong focus on psychosocial support.in order to alleviate the negative consequences of the armed conflict.
Terre des hommes is setting up mobile teams in Moldova, Romania and Hungary to provide emergency help to refugees from Ukraine. We are doing our utmost to try to maintain our activities in Ukraine and to respond to the growing needs of the children.
You can learn more about our work in Ukraine here: https://tdh-ukraine.org/
