The tragic plight of Ukrainian children who need our help

Opinion

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This article was published 22/03/2022 (1011 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a short video that went viral and captured the hearts of millions of people around the world.

Hiding in an underground bomb shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine, Amellia Anisovych, only seven years old, stood up and started singing “Let It Go,” the inspiring song about strength and defiance from the Disney movie “Frozen.” The crowd in the bunker grew silent as the small girl’s rendition was captured on a cellphone.

Today, just two weeks later, Amellia is safe in Poland with her grandmother. Last weekend, she sang in front of a packed Polish arena at a charity concert in support of Ukraine.

But for millions of other children still stuck in Ukraine, the relentlessly brutal Russian war against their country remains a daily nightmare — and often a deadly one.

Canadians horrified by what’s happening in Ukraine are stepping up in unprecedented numbers to donate to charities, such as UNICEF, that are working inside Ukraine with mandates specifically directed toward helping children.

But it’s time the Canadian government also stepped up its efforts to assist Ukranian children.

Every day helpless children are being killed, injured or driven into exile. Russian troops are shelling schools and hospitals and buildings where children and others are taking shelter. To date, close to two million children have fled to Poland, Romania and other neighbouring nations.

Here’s a number to ponder: One Ukrainian child every second for the last month has become a refugee. That’s almost 60 children a minute for more than four weeks.

David Morley, president of UNICEF Canada, has worked in international development for 40 years and says he has never seen anything before on a scale like what’s happening in Ukraine. “I can’t think of any other humanitarian crisis where over the space of four weeks some four million people have fled” and become refugees, he said in an interview.

What’s worse, this crisis — and it’s impact on children — isn’t going away any time soon, Morley says, adding “we’re in it for the long haul.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Canadians have donated more than $6 million to UNICEF Canada. Millions more have been donated to other charities, such as the Canadian Red Cross.

While there are no UNICEF Canada staffers currently in Ukraine, the Canadian branch of the international agency has a long history of working in the country, including a recent project overseeing HIV awareness programs for Ukranian children.

UNICEF is one of the biggest agencies working inside Ukraine. Over the past month it has been increasing efforts to deliver bottled water, health care, education and protection to besieged residents in major cities around the country. That includes such daily items as first aid kits, diapers, family hygiene kits, disinfectants and more.

It has even set up kindergarten spaces in subway stations that have become bomb shelters so young kids can have some small sense of normalcy while rockets fly above them.

Importantly, UNICEF is providing particularly destitute refugees who have reached Poland and other nearby countries with prepaid credit cards that allow them to buy goods they feel are most needed by their families. Morley says countries such as Poland don’t lack supplies; rather it’s the refugees who lack money to buy them.

Like other agencies, UNICEF Canada is expected to increase its appeal in the coming days for donations to support children in Ukraine.

Ottawa can help by agreeing to match individual donations. Last month, Global Affairs Canada announced it would match donations to the Canadian Red Cross for Ukrainian relief up to $10 million. In this time of severe crisis, it should extend this all-important matching program to UNICEF Canada and other major children-oriented charities.

That’s because the nearly four million children still inside Ukraine and the two million children who are suddenly refugees desperately need our help — and they need it now.

Bob Hepburn is a Star politics columnist and based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @BobHepburn