How can we not take an example from them? Says Olena Rozvadovska about Ukrainian children during a discussion at the Forum 2000 Conference

Author:

The Foundation's team

"Women and children suffer from violence, including sexual violence, abduction and forced displacement. Such infrastructure facilities as maternity hospitals, hospitals, schools and kindergartens are under targeted fire," said the founder of the Voices of Children Foundation Olena Rozvadovska during the discussion "Women and children at the center of Russia's war in Ukraine”.

The participants of the discussion that took place as part of the Forum 2000 Conference discussed the impact of the war on the psychological state of Ukrainian children and their families, the experience they are going through as a result of the war. Among the biggest challenges is limited access to education and health care.

"Children's access to education, as well as to quality psychological aid, is often simply impossible to ensure. And here the thing is not about lack of money, but about lack of possibility of working in remote front-line villages, where no more than a hundred residents live. Roads to get there are dangerous and mined, there is even no place to safely gather the children there," Olena Rozvadovska added.

The founder of the Voices of Children Foundation also told the story of Maria, who at the age of 15 decided to escape from the occupation. She completed her studies at one of the most prestigious universities in Kyiv and is taking her first steps in journalism. Such an example of children's determination, in Rozvadovska's opinion, should become a model for us, adults.

"How can we not take an example from them and not do everything possible to win better today and tomorrow for them?"

The Forum 2000 Conference has been taking place since 1997 in Prague on the initiative of former Czech President Vaclav Havel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel and philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa. Every year, distinguished speakers talk to the international community on a variety of topics, from religious dialogue to human rights and national security.

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