During emergencies, such as conflict, it is a well-accepted principle of States’ obligations under international law that adoption is not an appropriate response for unaccompanied and separated children. This is a joint call for a moratorium on intercountry adoption in response to the conflict in Ukraine. In line with the Ukrainian Government’s suspension of intercountry adoption, the joint statement urges receiving States, international bodies, and humanitarian agencies to adopt a harmonised approach and call for a moratorium on intercountry adoptions from Ukraine.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) produces an extensive range of publications and e-products on a variety of human rights-related subjects. This broad portfolio provides information of interest to governments, national institutions, civil society, academia, the general public and the media, among other stakeholders. OHCHR publications and e-products aim to increase knowledge and raise awareness about human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to publicize ways of promoting and protecting them worldwide. They also seek to encourage debate on topical human rights issues under discussion at the United Nations.

The panel will be informed by the findings of Disability Rights International’s recent investigations in Ukraine and the report Left Behind in the War: Dangers Facing Children with Disabilities In Ukraine’s Orphanages. During times of war and emergency how can children and adults in institutions be protected without reinforcing segregated systems of service?   What have recent experiences from Ukraine taught us about the challenges of enforcing the right to live in the community for all people with disabilities? Panelists will discuss immediate challenges facing humanitarian relief agencies as they respond to children with disabilities in Ukraine’s orphanages or recently evacuated to neighboring countries. 

Panelists will discuss immediate challenges facing humanitarian relief agencies as they respond to children with disabilities in Ukraine’s orphanages or recently evacuated to neighboring countries. The panel will be informed by the findings of DRI’s recent report, Left Behind in the War: Dangers Facing Children with Disabilities In Ukraine’s Orphanages.

The war in Ukraine has forced millions to flee the country, but some of the most vulnerable have been left behind. NBC’s Richard Engel reports for TODAY on the Vilshanka Orphan House. Warning: some of the images in this report may be distressing.

This training has been designed for social workers in Moldova who are working with foster families caring for unaccompanied and separated children and adolescents who have fled the crisis in Ukraine.

On February 24, in the early hours of a cold, dark morning in Lviv, two phones in one apartment rang nearly simultaneously. The phones belonged to two women, Maryna and Nataliia, professional colleagues of a sort and temporary roommates; they were also newfound friends, both of them pregnant and near the beginning of their third trimesters.

In this workshop Family for Every Child members Flüchtlingsrat Niedersachsen (The Refugee Council of Lower Saxony, Germany), Programma Integra (Italy) and METAdrasi (Greece) share their experience around supporting unaccompanied minors, with For Our Children (FoC) in Bulgaria. They share top tips with FoC as they navigate the arrival of unaccompanied minors fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, and find ways to support them.

The conflict in Ukraine and subsequent refugee crisis has resulted in children being separated from their families and moved across borders. Some have been orphaned or their orphanages have been destroyed.

As of the morning of June 8, 2022, more than 741 children were injured in Ukraine as a result of the full-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation: according to official information of juvenile prosecutors, 263 children were killed, more than 478 injured, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) reports.