First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska took part in the event “Securing the Future for Children: Addressing New Challenges for Soft Power” held on the sidelines of the UN Summit of the Future and the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly.
“This year, the themes of the Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen and the UN Summit align: they both address the future of children. This is a very symbolic coincidence, which means that we are all concerned about the fate of children, regardless of the country,” the President's wife said.
She shared the results of the study conducted in 15 countries for the Fourth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen. The survey showed that every fourth child in the world suffers from the direct impact of war. Olena Zelenska called on all adults to take action to save children.
“It is a shame to say, but if the abduction of 19,000 children, along with acts of torture, mutilation, and murder, occurs before our very eyes, it means that all the world's regulations and international safeguards in place have failed. So, we need fundamentally new tools,” the First Lady said.
According to her, one of these tools is the expert document developed by Ukrainian specialists together with the state authorities to implement the Joint Declaration of the Fourth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen.
“The whole world once reacted to the Chornobyl disaster. Back then, everyone understood that radiation threatened everyone. The same is true with aggression and the violation of children's rights. They are already poisoning our world, already affecting children, even those far from the frontlines. At least, for now. If we wish to prevent a world where our children have no rights, I call on everyone to respond to these threats as adults should. By taking decisive action,” Olena Zelenska concluded.
The event was held at the initiative of the Global Platform of the Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen, which demonstrates the growing scale of the project launched by the wife of the President of Ukraine in 2021.
The event was co-organized by Ukraine, Estonia, Belize, Lithuania, Suriname, Finland, Malawi, Guatemala, the Governments of the United Kingdom and Canada, and UNICEF. Among the speakers were the First Ladies of the countries involved in the organization. The First Lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden, delivered a special address.
The event also featured speeches by Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Amélie Derbaudrenghien, wife of the President of the European Council, Kitty van der Heijden, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, Maggie Johnson, Vice President and Global Head of Google, and Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait, the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crisis, as well as youth representatives – a programmer and advocate for the rights of child victims of sexual abuse from Belize and an environmentalist from Senegal.
The event was moderated by Sergiy Kyslytsya, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations.
