International Day for Protection of Children
There is a reason the world pauses on June 1 each year to mark International Children’s Day. This date, celebrated since 1950, was born in the shadow of World War II — a world still reeling from the destruction and heartbreak that, above all, left the youngest the most vulnerable. Leaders then vowed: never again should children bear the brunt of adult wars and politics. It became a day to honour childhood — and to protect it.
But decades later, that promise remains painfully unmet.
At DETY Project, we work every day to protect, uplift, and give voice to children affected by war. Our mission — to defend the rights of children, to help them heal and thrive, and to bring their stories to light — feels especially urgent today. Because childhood is short. And for too many children, it is being stolen.
Across Ukraine and other conflict zones, children are losing homes, schools, communities — and, too often, their lives. They are going to bed to the sound of sirens instead of lullabies. They are waking up to shattered glass, missing classmates, and lives turned upside down.
In Ukraine alone, over 500 children have been killed since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Countless others are living with physical wounds, psychological trauma, and a future full of uncertainty. These are not numbers. These are names, dreams, drawings, whispered fears in the night.
DETY Project was founded on a simple but powerful belief: that children are not just victims of conflict — they are resilient, imaginative, and full of light. When we protect their rights, support their healing, and listen to their voices, we help rebuild not just individual lives, but the future of entire nations.
On this day, we remember the children who have been taken too soon. We also reaffirm our commitment to those still with us: to create safe spaces, amplify their stories, connect them to education, art, friendship, and joy — and ensure the world never forgets what they’re going through.
Today, we ask all of you — friends, supporters, parents, teachers, leaders — to join us. Stand with children. Stand with those who protect them. And most of all, stand for the kind of world they deserve:
A world where rockets do not fall from the sky.
Where the only sound breaking the silence is the ring of a school bell.
Where every child is seen, heard, cared for — and safe.
As we mark this day, we also invite you to support the work of our partners, who are doing extraordinary things to protect, reunite, and care for Ukraine’s most vulnerable children:
Project Soniahshnyk – offering trauma support and art therapy to kids in war-affected areas
Voices of Children – providing psychological assistance and storytelling tools for healing
Save Ukraine – rescuing and reuniting abducted Ukrainian children with their families
Bring Kids Back UA – fighting every day to return children illegally deported to Russia
Together, these organizations are doing what governments alone cannot: giving children a chance at recovery, dignity, and a future.
From all of us at DETY Project — thank you for believing, for standing with us, and for protecting what matters most.
