Parliament urges UN to take action on russia’s mass abduction of Ukrainian children

A group of Ukrainian parliament members registered draft Resolution No. 9038, which calls on the international community to intervene in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to russia.

RBC-Ukraine reports, citing one of the initiators of the draft resolution, People's Deputy Tetiana Skrypka.

"The Yale School's Humanities Research Lab report shows that more than 6,000 Ukrainian children passed through 43 camps created by the aggressor for political re-education and following adoption. Despite all attempts by the Ukrainian authorities to return children home, abduction and adoption continue," Skrypka explained.

According to her, this violates international conventions and indicates genocide, one of the signs of which is the forced transfer of people from one national group to another.

"We must return all our children home. And we are making every effort to do so. But the world community must also have its say," the MP said, adding that a group of more than 40 people's deputies initiated an appeal of the Verkhovna Rada to international organizations. 

"We will appeal to the UN Committee on Human Rights, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the UN International Court of Justice, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. We ask you to intervene in the situation and protect Ukrainian children immediately," Olena Shuliak, head of the Servant of the People party, added.

She assured the parliament would use all possible mechanisms to stop the forced deportation and return the children to their parents or legal representatives.

"The occupiers abduct children from their parents, force them to forget their Ukrainian origin, language, and culture, and try to turn them into russians. But they will not succeed. We will do everything to return every stolen child to Ukraine," Shuliak emphasized.

An Associated Press investigation confirmed that russian forces forcibly relocated Ukrainian children without consent, lied to them that their parents abandoned them, used them for propaganda, set camps for Ukrainian orphans for "patriotic education," and russified them by giving them russian citizenship, and adoption to erase their Ukrainian identity.

Estimates of the number of deported Ukrainian children to russia range from 13,000 to 307,000,  without any indication as to when they could return to their home cities. According to international law, including the 1948 Genocide Convention, it constitutes genocide.