Remember the victims of Chernobyl disaster, urges Adi Roche
She has also campaigned to have April 26 ratified as an official Chernobyl Day.
The date, she suggests, should be honoured and commemorated.
She said it would be “a day of renewal and recommitment to discover new means, new initiatives to alleviate further, the suffering of the people in the affected stricken lands”.
Within hours of the catastrophic accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 31 people died.
But the effects of the explosion, which released eight tonnes of radioactive material into the atmosphere, are still being felt today in Ukraine.
Last year, Ms Roche, who had set up a Cork charity to aid the victims of Chernobyl, addressed a special session of the United Nations General Assembly.
As a result of her representations, the UN, in December last, designed this Wednesday as Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day
This week, on the 31st anniversary of the accident, the global community will be welcomed to come together, for the first time, by the UN, to commemorate the disaster and remember the generations of victims who have been, and will be, affected for years to come.
As initiators of the day of commemoration, the Cork-based charity — the only UN-recognised NGO working in the Chernobyl affected regions — is co-organising a photo exhibition and round-table discussion at the United Nations headquarters in New York which is due to be attended by the United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres.
Meanwhile, Ms Roche called on Irish families and children to take a moment of remembrance on this week’s historic, inaugural remembrance day.
She has emphasised: “Sadly, the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident that we’ve witnessed since 1986 is not something that has gone away.
“While the accident itself is a thing of the past, Chernobyl remains an unfolding tragedy that will affect the stricken regions for generations to come.
“Chernobyl is forever,” she said.
“There has always been a special place in Ireland’s heart for the children of Chernobyl and ‘Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day’ is our legacy to the victims of the accident.”
Also on Wednesday, President Higgins is expected to release a statement supporting the Irish-initiated Day of Remembrance.
Figures from the Irish music industry such as Paul Noonan, Gavin Class and Maria Doyle Kennedy are gathering for a once-off special concert in Kilkenny to mark the disaster and raise vital funds for Chernobyl Children International’s programmes in Belarus and Ukraine.
