The Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Olena Kondratiuk spoke at a special event “Safety of Women and Children: Return of Ukrainians from russian Captivity”. The side event was held in Vienna as part of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s winter session. It was organised by the Ukrainian and British delegations. Importantly, the event was also attended by direct victims and witnesses of russian crimes.
The Vice-Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament stressed that when the world is talking about a just peace for Ukraine today, we must not forget that justice is not only about powerful sanctions against the aggressor. And not only the provision of weapons, air defence systems, humanitarian and financial assistance to Ukraine.
“Justice is also the inevitable punishment of the aggressor. In particular, for crimes against Ukrainian children. Security in Europe is possible only when every crime is punished!” emphasised Olena Kondratiuk.
She reminded that a year ago, the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children was established, which unites more than 40 countries. Ukraine, on the initiative of the President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and under the auspices of Canada, created the Bring Kids Back Ua initiative. The Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is responsible for the parliamentary track of this initiative.
“Thanks to our partners, NGOs and Qatar, we have been able to return just over a thousand children. This is a very slow and sensitive process. However, russia’s even greater crime is that our children, who live under temporary occupation or have been abducted, are being deliberately deprived of their Ukrainian identity. They are being brought up in a spirit of hatred towards Ukraine. Children have no education in their native Ukrainian language,” Olena Kondratiuk informed the participants of the event.
The Vice-Speaker also drew attention to the fact that Ukrainian children are being trained in military schools to participate in the war against their homeland on the side of russia. “In legal terms, these crimes are called indoctrination and militarisation. This is the threat facing 1 million 600 thousand Ukrainian children in the temporarily occupied territories,” said Olena Kondratiuk.
She expressed gratitude to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly for the resolution adopted in 2023 condemning the deportation of Ukrainian children. The European Parliament and a number of assemblies and parliaments in Europe and around the world have also adopted similar resolutions.
“With the support of 45 participating states, the OSCE applied the moscow Mechanism in 2023. The OSCE mission concluded that the practice of forcibly transferring Ukrainian children to russia or the TOT can be considered a crime against humanity. I believe that it is time to re-apply the moscow Mechanism in relation to children. But with a new emphasis on the crimes of indoctrination and militarisation of Ukrainian children,” emphasised Olena Kondratiuk.
The Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada also reminded all those present that the Yugoslav Tribunal was established after the first moscow Mechanism on the situation in Yugoslavia.
“This is an example worthy of emulation. Publicity, public political condemnation of russia’s crimes, punishment, sanctions. These are the tools that we must use to the fullest to defend the rights of Ukrainian children,” summed up Olena Kondratiuk.