Child safety system needs to be revised taking into account the challenges of war, — Kateryna Pavlichenko
The Deputy Minister of the Interior took part in the Conference “UA: War. Unsung lullaby” and told about the tasks performed by the units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the safety and observance of the rights of children who have suffered or witnessed war crimes. The event was organized by the Office of Obmudsman with the support of the Office of the President of Ukraine for the International Day of Protection of Children.
“From the first days of a full-scale war, the police have documented the facts of murder, mutilation, deportation, sexual violence against children. And this is an incomplete list of war crimes committed by the occupiers. According to the National Police, the occupiers killed the largest number of children in Donetsk region — 182 children, Kharkiv — 81 and Kyiv region — 59. It is important that the world community recognizes the fact of genocide committed by Russia against our children,” said Kateryna Pavlichenko.
According to her, the number of crimes committed against children is rapidly growing.
“The war has undermined the security system in general. The challenges we have faced in the past need to be reconsidered. In particular, this also concerns the safety of children in educational institutions, on the road, in cyberspace and in communities,” the Deputy Minister stressed.
She said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is currently working on the creation of a large-scale project “Safe Country”, each of the components of which will include issues of child safety.
“For example, if earlier children in schools were confronted with bullying, bad habits, fire hazards, then now rocket and artillery shelling, pollution of territories with mines and explosives, illegal arms trafficking have been added to this list. Therefore, today every school has a police officer and a lifeguard assigned to monitor security and carry out preventive measures, as well as security specialists. 34% of educational institutions were taken under the protection of the security police,” the Deputy Minister said.
Ekaterina Pavlichenko also spoke about the tasks that police units perform, saving children's lives.
“Previously, the duties of the police did not include evacuation from the combat zone, as well as the performance of combat tasks at zero and many other functions. But times change. We know that timely evacuation saves lives. Therefore, today police officers from the regions, patrol police, go to the hottest spots and save lives, including children's,” said the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Department of Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
