ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will be discussing the return of Ukrainian children deported to by Russia that Ukraine terms as Legalized Kidnapping and demands punishment for Russia.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Federation has abducted at least 19.5 thousand Ukrainian children. We are talking only about official data; the real figure can probably be much higher. Kidnapping, legalized in the TOT of Ukraine, has become one of the most heinous crimes committed by Putin’s Russia in an effort to improve the demographic situation
The issue of the return of illegally deported children will be discussed at the January session of PACE, Ukrainian politician Oleksiy Honcharenko stated. Thus, PACE has become a universal international platform for finding and returning home young Ukrainians.
Ukraine calls Russia as Terrorist state and pleads her case as, “It is significant that the abduction of Ukrainian children has became the main prerequisite for the International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Putin. This decision of the European Themis was a painful blow to the reputation of the head of the Kremlin, because it strengthened the international isolation of Russia.”
Here are the points Ukraine raises at international fora to convince international opinion against Russian Federation :
The pressure on the terrorist state must increase, because the Russian Federation continues to forcibly remove children from the occupied regions of Ukraine. This process is massive from the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion.
In particular, after the liberation of Kherson by Ukrainian soldiers, local residents said that the Russian occupiers had organized a real hunt for Ukrainian children. According to eyewitnesses, the Russians were looking for Ukrainian children everywhere: in kindergartens, schools, orphanages. Concerned local residents had to hide the children in order to prevent their deportation to the Russian Federation.
Russia Activates Kidnapping in the Occupied Territories:The PACE Special Committee on Ukrainian Children’s Affairs Becomes a Tool for Countering Their Forced Deportation
As a rule, the Russians send children kidnapped in Ukraine to remote, depressed regions of the Russian Federation, which are located in Siberia and the Far East. The practice of changing surnames and other personal data of Ukrainian children in order to complicate the process of finding them and returning home is common.
Thus, the introduction of sanctions against the Russian Federation and its international isolation is relevant. The pressure on the terrorist state must be increased, otherwise it will indicate the weakness of the legal institutions of the West and will encourage other modern dictatorships to commit similar crimes.
Russian side denies the allegations labelled by Ukraine but can not find support from International community, especially from European Union and United Nations.
