VIDEO: Australian celebrities uniting to support Ukraine children after 12 months of war
Australian sporting heroes and global celebrities have banded together to support Ukrainian children as they endure a second year of war. Watch the video.
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Australian sporting heroes and local celebrities have banded together to support Ukrainian children as they endure a second year of war and mass devastation.
Olympic legend Emma McKeon and Australian cricket stars Aaron Finch and Pat Cummins have joined Sunrise’s Edwina Bartholomew, Walking Dead actor, Callan McAuliffe, chef Adam Liaw, artist Ken Done and Erica Packer in a video which shines a light on the violence, fear, loss and tragedy experienced by Ukrainian children over the past 12 months.
The UNICEF initiative highlights the critical nature of life on the ground in Ukraine in the hopes of raising urgently needed funds for the organisation’s Australia Ukraine appeal.
McKeon and McAuliffe said in the video “more than 17 million people (in Ukraine) need assistance, that’s more than half the population of Australia.”
“There is hope,” the group said.
UNICEF Australia CEO Tony Stuart said all aspects of children’s lives in the war-torn country have been impacted “with children killed, injured and forced from their homes.”
“UNICEF is on the ground providing lifesaving supplies, funding safe spaces for children to play and psychosocial support for trauma,” he said.
“I thank these friends of UNICEF for drawing attention to the children who are enduring the loss of their childhood.”
Mr Stuart said the suffering children should be in school classrooms learning valuable life skills and not amid tragedy and conflict “missing out on critical education.”
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said 2022 was a year of horror for Ukrainian children who desperately need help.
“Millions of children are going to sleep cold and scared and waking up hoping for an end to this brutal war.
It has been revealed the percentage of children living in poverty has almost doubled to more than 80 per cent in just 12 months, with an estimated 1.5 million now at risk of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health concerns.
Displaced children are also missing out in vital vaccines polio, measles, diphtheria and other life-threatening diseases.
“Children need an end to this war and sustained peace to regain their childhoods, return to normalcy and begin to heal and recover,” Ms Russell said.
“ No child should ever have to bear that kind of suffering.”
For over a year, UNICEF has provided learning supplies to 770,000 children, engaged 1.4 million children in formal and non-formal education, provided mental health and psychosocial support to 2.9 million children and caregivers, provided access to safe water for 4.6 million people, provided healthcare services to 4.9 million people, and provided multipurpose cash assistance to 1.4 million people inside Ukraine and 47,494 households in neighbouring countries who have lost livelihoods.
You can donate to the UNICEF Australia Appeal here.
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