Peace campaigner, charity leader and prior political candidate, Adi Roche, cautioned while accepting an esteemed international peace recognition in London on Saturday, that Ukraine is in an extremely precarious position akin to a ticking nuclear time bomb. She added that the Western World should not leave Ukraine to deal with the impending danger alone.
Founder of the Chernobyl Children International (CCI), an association which has distributed over €108 million in assistance to Ukraine and nearby Belarus following the nuclear disaster in 1986, Roche was recently acknowledged with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Peace Prize. An annual prestigious award presented by the Ahmadiyya community, a South Asian Muslim group, during a large event held at one of the biggest mosques in Europe, Baitul Futuh complex in South London. Notable past recipients have included Hiroshima bombing survivor and anti-nuclear activist Setsuko Thurlow and Cheng Yen, the originator of Tzu Chi humanitarian organisation in Taiwan.
Originally selected for the award in 2020, the ceremony was put on hold due to the pandemic. Roche declared that her recognition was uplifting given her charity’s ongoing efforts in Belarus and Ukraine, which have been heavily disrupted due to Russia’s invasion in 2022.
She also criticised Russia’s covert nuclear antagonism initiated by their incursion into Ukraine via Belarus. This invasion path led directly through the Chernobyl nuclear exclusion zone in the country’s north – the power station was seized on the battle’s first day. Roche voiced concern over the weaponising of nuclear facilities, stating that “The Hague Convention should be invoked” and added that Russia essentially issued a nuclear threat without verbalising it. She also mentioned that this presented an opportunity for them to further expand their control to Zaporizhzhia, a nuclear plant in southeast Ukraine that has now fallen under Russian control after intense battles.
Roche, an advocate against the use of nuclear power since the 1970s, admits her worries regarding the looming catastrophe in Ukraine despite her hope for peace. She revealed, “Sometimes, sleep eludes me at night due to the worry.”
Prior to the onset of war, CCI primarily conducted operations in Belarus, collaborating with healthcare professionals to attend to the medical needs of children impacted by the nuclear contamination resulting from the Chernobyl incident. Each year, a few children were invited to Ireland to reside with host families.
However, the Cork-based charity led by Ms Roche has been unable to access Belarus since sanctions were declared against Aleksandr Lukashenko’s government, an ally of Putin. Ms Roche commented on the dire situation, emphasising CCI’s sole focus on the children and way they have managed to navigate through the hurdles despite the odds. The CCI is currently maintained on location by a team of sixty local workers.
Before the war broke out, CCI operations were also handled from the northeastern city of Kharkiv in Ukraine, which was taken by Russia earlier in the conflict and later retrieved by the Ukrainians. This forced the charity to relocate its base to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv in a bid to evade the warfare.
In Ukraine, the charity faces numerous issues as it forms the backbone of paediatric cardiac services. CCI’s medical volunteers tend to the needs of suffering children, diagnosing and treating conditions such as ‘Chernobyl heart’, a cardiac disorder thought to be triggered by nuclear fallout that’s rampant in the region.
Detailing the efforts of CCI’s medical team in treating ‘Chernobyl heart’, Ms Roche explained how children’s lives are jeopardised by the condition and how they won’t survive without aid. Surgeons initially remained in Kharkiv following invasion but had to retreat to Lviv two years ago due to safety concerns. They were effectively pushed from the east towards the west due to the conflict.
Rather than curtailing services amidst the conflict in Ukraine, CCI has actually broadened its mission from its new western roots. Ms Roche revealed how they dispatch essential supplies monthly to numerous villages situated in the Chernobyl embargoed area, providing crucial items like food, solar lamps, and stoves. Additionally, children are offered vacation opportunities in the Carpathian Mountain region.
Discussing the unexpected difficulties created by the war, she asserted her determination to persist. Ms Roche, a presidential candidate in 1997, expressed her gratitude on being granted the peace accolade.
“It’s admirable how committed to peace the Ahmadiyya community is. Religions can have both unifying and divisive effects, but that pivot towards peace and justice is something noteworthy,” she stated. “Peace seems to have been lost to the world. People are left stunned and despondent due to this. Despite its vulnerability and suppression by warfare, we must not relinquish our hope for peace.”
The Ahmadiyya movement is a Muslim religious faction that originated in India in 1899. While its disciples adhere to the primary Islamic doctrines, they also hold the belief that Jesus Christ survived crucifixion and later passed away in Kashmir. Members of the Ahmadiyya faction often face persecution from other subdivisions of the Islamic faith.
The global spiritual head of the movement, the caliph, is Mirza Masroor Ahmad, who was scheduled to deliver a main speech at the London function where Ms Roche was to receive her peace award.
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