His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen hosts a meeting on the crisis in Ukraine

On March 25th, HHMM the King and Queen of Sweden and the Crown Princess couple invited experts from swedish civil society organisations working with the Ukraine crisis to an emergency meeting the Royal Palace.  

The purpose of the meeting was to share experiences to encourage collaboration between the organizations in order to strengthen children’s security and protection.

During the meeting, H.M. Queen Silvia gave a speech in which she highlighted the risks for the children in Ukraine.

Now.
Now.
Now.
And now.

Almost every second, a child in Ukraine becomes a refugee according to Unicef’s calculations.

Every such child risks being harmed, physically and mentally, by the hardships of war and flight. But they also run the risk of being harmed in other ways.

Everywhere there are vulnerable children, rescued children, lonely children – there is also violence, sexual abuse and human trafficking. Perpetrators exploit chaos. This has been the case in all wars and conflicts. And so it is even now. – H.M. Queen Silvia

See the full speech here: H.M. Queen Silvia’s speech

Representatives from 22 organizations as well as the Ombudsman for children, the Migration Agency’s Director-General and the Ambassador for Trafficking in Human Rights at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs attended the meeting. Each representative spoke on how they operate in and around Ukraine, and the needs they have identified. Care About the Children’s Managing Director, Thérèse von Blixen-Finecke, attended the meeting and in her speech she stressed the importance of cooperation and communication between the aid organizations and that the risks for refugee children do not always disappear when the Ukrainian children arrive to Sweden.