Olena Kondratiuk, the Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, took part in the first meeting of the International Coalition of States on the Return of Deported Ukrainian Children, which is taking place in Kyiv.
According to her, this is a very important event that can move forward the issue of returning forcibly removed, abducted and deported children. It is attended by the President of Ukraine and representatives of 72 countries and international organisations. The goal is to create real and effective return mechanisms.
In her speech, Olena Kondratiuk said that as of today, 19,546 young Ukrainians have been deported or forcibly removed. And only a few hundred have been returned... russia is not making any contacts, the UN and the Red Cross are powerless.
"Human rights experts say that it is the first time they have seen children used so harshly in military conflicts. And this is one of the signs of genocide. The genocide that russia is committing against the Ukrainian people," the Vice Speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine stressed.
At the same time, she stressed that the world must regain the ability to call black black and white white. The world must regain the categorical arbiter that the UN has been for years. But today, without a radical reform of this organisation and decisive action, there is no such arbiter in the world.
Therefore, Olena Kondratiuk is convinced that a mechanism for prompt replacement must be invented.
"The only option I see is the creation of a political coalition of countries that will use their geopolitical weight, their total share in the global economy, and their consolidation to convince the world that black is black. That the deportation of children is an unequivocal crime that must be punished.
I am very pleased that today we have launched the creation of such a coalition," the Vice Speaker said in her speech and thanked the Office of the Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets and the Bring Kids Back UA group under the President of Ukraine.