The Center for the Protection of Childrenʼs Rights has been opened in Ukraine, which will counter Russian crimes, writes the Ministry of Reintegration.
The center will work with children who were victims of or witnesses to Russian crimes. Professionals will receive information from children and their families to help them. Medical examinations will also be conducted there.
At the opening event of the Center, the Bring Kids Back UA action plan was presented — it is a complex of actions of the Ukrainian authorities, foreign governments and international organizations in protecting the rights of children from Ukraine.
"The first step has been taken, 371 children are at home in Ukraine. We will do everything to bring everyone back," the President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized at the opening ceremony.
- Ukraine has confirmation that Ukrainian children and prisoners of war were forcibly moved through the territory of Belarus with the participation of Minsk. Now Kyiv is investigating the role of Belarus in the deportation of Ukrainian children who were forcibly removed by Russia from the occupied territories.
- A month ago, Ukraine handed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) a list with the names of 19 000 children deported to Russia.
- On April 27, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognized the deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to the territory of Russia as genocide. PACE called on the International Criminal Court to consider the possibility of criminal prosecution for this crime.
- Russia deported 19 393 children from Ukraine and created more than 70 camps where they are forcibly held. Since part of the territory of Ukraine is under occupation and the authorities do not have access to it, it may actually be about several hundred thousand kidnapped children.
- In April, Putin signed a decree that provides for the "deportation" of Ukrainians from the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. That is, Ukrainians who live in the occupied territories and have decided to retain Ukrainian citizenship have the right to stay there until July 1, 2024. After that, they can be deported.
- On March 17, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Putin and Russian Childrenʼs Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. They are suspected of illegally deporting children from the occupied regions of Ukraine to Russia.