October 11 is the International Day of the Girl Child according to the UN calendar, and no matter what theme it is dedicated to this year, we should use this opportunity to once again draw the attention of the international community to the violated rights of Artsakh children forcibly displaced from their homeland. Passing through the brutal siege, hunger and deprivation, the horror of war and bombings, the loss of relatives and taking the irreversible path of migration, they are today deprived of their natural right to live peacefully and freely in the land of their ancestors...
More than 30,000 children from Artsakh have found refuge in Armenia today. In addition to displacement, these children have continuously lived in a dangerous, unsafe environment and, as the families say, in constant fear of new attacks. Social workers cooperating with UNICEF state that children sheltered in Armenia show signs of acute psychological stress.
Social workers serving up to 300 children a day in Goris report that children experience feelings of anxiety, fear and anger, manifested by nightmares, bedwetting and inconsolable crying. Some children have become isolated from everyone, become uncommunicative, unable to express feelings or understand what has happened, UNICEF said in its disseminated statement. And all this is only a part of the sufferings that has befallen the children of Artsakh...
Today, thousands of children forcibly displaced from Artsakh together with their families still live in temporary shelters, many of which lack basic living conditions... The issue of providing housing to the displaced people is the number one problem facing the state today, and its prompt solution is the main guarantee for the children of Artsakh to realize their right to live in dignity, to quickly integrate into a new environment, and to rediscover their damaged childhood.
Photos obtained from Armenian and international media and open sources
Full text in Armenian
