UWC President Paul Grod joined a session of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children at the 80th UN General Assembly in New York.
The event included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, First Lady Olena Zelenska, Sweden’s Queen Silvia, as well as Ukraine’s prime minister and education minister.
The discussion focused on the devastating impact that Russia’s war on Ukrainian is having on children and the educational system.
According to organizers, one in six primary schools in Ukraine has been damaged or destroyed. Lessons can only take place where bomb shelters exist; otherwise, children are forced to study online.
Paul Grod also met with the U.S. Special Envoy Keith Kellogg on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly.
More than 100,000 students lack the devices or internet access that are needed for remote instruction. Constant air raids push classes underground, sometimes into subway stations, and in just one week, 3,500 drone strikes disrupted schooling nationwide.
Paul Grod with Anita Anand, the member of the Canadian parliament for Oakville East.
Conditions are even worse for children in temporarily occupied Russian territories: 35,000 must study under Russian control that indoctrinates them and infuses propaganda.
Several meetings took place on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly.
Children whose parents resist face “re-education” or militarized camps — more than 20,000 pupils have already been kidnapped, stripped of their identities, and separated from their families without parental consent.
“We called on the world to help return our illegally deported children home as quickly as possible, to their families, to a safe and dignified childhood,” Zelenska wrote.
Cover: Office of the President of Ukraine
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