Post by Tim De Zitter

𝐀 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲’𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 Ten-year-old Ukrainian gymnast Oleksandra Paskal has begun her “Dance of Freedom” tour in Paris. She will continue to New York, Rio de Janeiro, Nairobi and Tokyo, performing on five continents to remind audiences that Russia’s war is still reshaping the lives of Ukrainian children. On 16 May 2022, a Russian missile struck Zatoka in the Odesa region. Oleksandra was severely wounded and lost her left leg below the knee. She later returned to rhythmic gymnastics with a prosthesis, resumed competing and has continued to build a sporting career that the strike had threatened to end. Her performance is an extraordinary expression of #Ukraine’s resilience, but the word “resilience” can become too comfortable. It allows the world to admire how beautifully someone survives without remaining equally focused on why a child had to learn survival in the first place. The tour matters because Oleksandra is not being presented only as a victim. She is performing, competing and speaking through the discipline she chose before the attack. That agency should be respected. Within #ChildrenOfWar, however, admiration must never become an expectation that young survivors continually display courage so adults remember a conflict they have grown tired of watching. There is a legitimate argument for visibility. Personal stories reach people whom casualty figures and strategic briefings no longer move, while international performances can preserve political attention and give survivors control over how their experiences are represented. Yet #HumanSecurity begins with a harder principle: children do not owe the world inspiration. They should not need a prosthesis, a stage or exceptional talent to make their suffering politically visible. The ordinary child whose name never appears in Paris deserves exactly the same protection, recovery and future. Oleksandra’s achievement deserves celebration, but it should produce more than applause. It should renew pressure for air defence, medical care, rehabilitation, accountability and sustained support for children whose childhood has been reorganised around alarms, displacement and loss. That is the real meaning of #PeaceForUkraine. Peace is not simply the moment when the missiles stop. It is the long work of returning choices, safety and an unburdened future to children who were forced to become symbols before they were old enough to choose that role. 𝘖𝘭𝘦𝘬𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘢’𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦; 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥’𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩.

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