UNICEF to support children injured in Armenian missile attack on Ganja
By Laman Ismayilova
UNICEF will provide support to children, injured during an Armenian missile attack in Ganja, UNICEF Representative to Azerbaijan Edward Carwardine has said, APA reported.
"During my visit yesterday to Ganja, I saw at firsthand the situation of children. I was saddened to hear the reports that more children had been injured over the weekend and extend my condolences to those affected", he said.
Ten civilians were killed and dozens others were injured during Armenian missile attack on the night leading to October 11 following the humanitarian truce signed between Baku and Yerevan.
Edward Carwardine noted that UNICEF repeats its urgent call for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, and reiterates that a cessation of hostilities is in the best interest of all children.
"I spoke in Ganja with Mr. Hikmat Hajiyev, Assistant to the President, to offer UNICEF’s support for children and families, particularly in responding to psychological trauma and keeping children safe from unexploded ordnance, and we agreed to implement this assistance urgently," he added.
For more than 25 years UNICEF has been working with the Government and people of Azerbaijan to provide every child with the best start to life.
Its activities began during some of the country’s most difficult times, assisting refugees and internally displaced people from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and addressing the impact of economic hardships caused by the transition from Soviet power to independence in 1991.
UNICEF now strives to build on the considerable progress Azerbaijan has made, economically and socially, over the last two decades. Poverty rates have dramatically decreased, child mortality rates have fallen, and primary school enrolment is almost universal.
The organization focuses its attention on those children who have not fully benefited from such advances. We work alongside the Government, communities and families in Azerbaijan to reach out to those children who remain vulnerable or at risk, to initiate new approaches to child and youth development, and to strengthen the national capacities and systems that support children and families.
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