This is Annya. She is more than just a number.
Annya was born in 1990 ina village highly contaminated by the
Chernobyl nuclear meltdown of1986. A cancerous brain tumour at the
age of four marked the end ofAnnya's childhood and the beginning of
a life of pain and illness.Annya, now 15 and bed-ridden, has spent
her life in and out ofhospital, between tumours and life support.
Every 15 minutes of everynight, she must be turned in order to
prevent further pain andbedsores.
Twenty years after the Chernobyl disaster, Annya, and her
parentsbattle everyday with the cruel and personal legacy of
Chernobyl. Theirhome village in the south of Belarus, irradiated
and uninhabitable, was razed andburied years ago. Gomel, the region
where they live now, iseconomically and socially depressed, and
work is hard to find.
Annya's is just one story. In Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and
beyond,there are 100,000's of people who lost a chance of a normal
life tonuclear disaster on a quiet spring night in 1986. Thousands
of stories.Thousands of certificates. Thousands of lives forever
and irreparablyscarred.
Nuclear technology is inherently dangerous. Today, thankfully,
it isalso unnecessary. Our energy needs can be met with safe and
efficientrenewable energy technologies. So, why are so many
politicians peddlingnuclear power at the very time we need it
least, when we have safe andsustainable sources available to power
the world?
And why does the UN, through its International AtomicEnergy
Agency (IAEA) continue to promote the nuclear technology
thatcreates the very materials used to make the nuclear weapons it
ismandated to stop? Is it the role of a UN agency, funded by your
taxes,to advance the profits of the nuclear industry? Do we not
have theright to expect the IAEA to focus only on the values and
principles ofthe UN - peace, security, and human rights - and not
on privateindustry's profits?
In some ways, sadly, Annya isjust a number. She is one of hundreds of thousands of victims livingthe devastating aftermath of Chernobyl. For Annya and for the thousandsof children like her, you need to speak out and say NO more nuclear, NOmore Chernobyls. If you don't, who will?
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