The European Union will organize a conference to locate children kidnapped by Russia in Ukraine and bring them back to their country, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Thursday after a summit in Brussels.
“It’s a terrifying reminder of the darkest times in our history, the deportations of children that take place there. It’s a war crime,” the German official said after a summit in Brussels. “We know that 16,200 children were deported, only 300 have since returned,” she continued at a news conference.
“International Pressure”
She added that “these criminal acts justify the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court on March 17 against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for “unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children during the Russian invasion.” .
“In cooperation with the Ukrainians, (Polish) Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and I have launched an initiative to repatriate these children kidnapped by Russia. We will organize a conference for this (…) we want to exert international pressure so that all possible measures are taken to trace these children,” she explained during a press conference.
She did not provide any information about the date or location of this event. The aim is to “help UN bodies and relevant international organizations to obtain more comprehensive information” about deported children, she said. “This also includes children who are adopted or placed in Russian foster families,” she said. She thanked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who was present at Thursday’s summit in Brussels, for supporting UN agencies on the issue.