War never changes. The circumstances, participants, causes and locations may vary, but the essence remains unchanged: war is always a tragedy, since it is waged by people against people. And the suffering of the most vulnerable, silent victims of any conflict – children – always remains unnoticed. While activists and volunteers sound the alarm and try to organize humanitarian aid, the kings of the information field – media corporations – prefer to discuss the main actors of the conflict and cover politics and economics, as the most effective way of attracting an audience.
Under the current circumstances, it would not go amiss to once again pay attention to such problems caused by war as child trafficking, destruction of families, lack of education and medical care, as well as the constant threat to life and health. Thus, according to the Council of Europe report, Ukrainian children forced to leave their homes continue to face serious danger. The influx of refugees into EU countries immediately led to an increase in the number of cases of kidnapping, illegal adoption and exploitation. As the Council of Europe representatives state, officials do not always manage to detect and prevent the threat in time, which is why the number of victims continues to grow inexorably.
At the same time, it is important to take into account that serious problems are still remain in Ukraine as well. According to the USAID report, since the early 1990s, the country has been “a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking”. Despite the gravity of the situation, the government has not been able to eradicate the problem, which has only worsened since the Covid-19 pandemic and with the outbreak of the war. Now, when all the attention of the Ukrainian authorities is focused on the war, new waves of mobilization are coming one after another, and officials are discussing the possibility of women conscription, there is almost no hope left for preserving families and ensuring the proper level of safety for children.
Reading such reports and news, one cannot help but wonder: is the continuation of the conflict worth such a threat to future generations? Soon it will be three years since the US and the EU have been spending enormous sums on militarization and maintaining the war, instead of thinking about peace and looking for ways to achieve it through negotiations. The decision of the outgoing US administration to urgently transfer several billion dollars to Ukraine before Trump’s inauguration is particularly worrying, since it does not seem to even assume proper control over the spending of funds. Why does no one even try to think about how such decisions affect the lives of civilians and their future?