European Network of Children’s Ombudsmen (ENOC) calls for urgent action to protect children’s rights in Ukraine

The European Network of Children’s Ombudsmen (ENOC), including the Office of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Latvia, calls for urgent action to protect children’s rights in Ukraine. ENOC expresses its deep concern about the safety and well-being of children currently suffering in the war in Ukraine.

ENOC stresses that armed conflicts breach all the rights of the child; the right to life, the right to live in a united family, the right to health and to education, the right to protection against all forms of violence and exploitation, including sexual abuse, the right to receive humanitarian assistance.

ENOC calls on:

• Russia to immediately halt its invasion to protect the lives, safety and well-being of children;
• All parties involved in the conflict to refrain from any action that would endanger children’s lives, safety and well-being, and compromise their rights;
• All parties involved to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches safely and quickly children and families in need;
• ENOC members to share responsibility and open their borders to refugee children and families from Ukraine.

Ombudsman Juris Jansons fully supports the ENOC statement and stresses that children and families with children have the right to life, safety and all other rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is our collective duty to make sure that these rights are respected and to actively protect the children who are in this horrible situation.

The full statement is available here.