The escalation of hostilities in Ukraine has resulted in approximately 5.6 million Ukrainians being internally displaced and another 7.8 million fleeing to neighbouring countries. This vast number of refugees presents an increased risk of human trafficking and child sexual exploitation and abuse. According to OCHA (the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), child protection interventions are required for around 3.4 million children from Ukraine. In addition, a further 1 million children are at risk of being affected by mental health issues due to the ongoing conflict.
Together with UNICEF’s Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (UNICEF ECARO), we initiated our Ukrainian Crisis Response project to strengthen and sustain the capacity of child helplines in Ukraine and its neighbouring countries, to ensure quality services for children and young people in need of care and protection, particularly those affected by the war in Ukraine.
Many child helpline counsellors lack expertise or training in humanitarian emergencies, or in some of the more pressing issues that are emerging, including conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence and trafficking in human beings. Therefore, we are organizing a whole series of workshops for child helpline counsellors and other frontline workers who are providing services to these children and young people, to provide them with the necessary knowledge, skills and contacts to be able to counter these risks effectively.
The first of these workshops is taking place in Poland this week, and others are planned in Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Moldova and Bulgaria. As well as broadening counsellors’ knowledge of the issues they are facing, we hope to increase their capacity around conflict-related mental health and psychological support, including their own personal wellbeing. Ultimately, we want to foster cross-organisational collaboration and multi-stakeholder referral processes; these will ensure that the children and young people affected by the war in Ukraine can be rapidly and effectively connected to the services they require.
Another vital part of our Ukrainian Crisis Response is to help child helplines raise awareness of their services so that many more Ukrainian children and young people, and their parents or caregivers, can contact them and get the help and support they need. We strongly encourage anyone who comes into contact with Ukrainians to share information about the child helpline services available in their country – we’ve put together this essential contact information here.
Eva Veldhuizen-Ochodničanová
is the CP/GBV Expert on our
Ukrainian Crisis Response team
About UNICEF ECARO
UNICEF, the UN Children’s Fund, works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, to defend their rights, and to help them fulfil their potential from early childhood through adolescence. And we never give up. For more information about UNICEF and its work for children in Europe and Central Asia, visit: www.unicef.org/eca