The PACE recognized the deportation of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation as genocide

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognized the deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to the territory of the Russian Federation as genocide and called on the ICC to consider the possibility of criminal prosecution for this crime.

The relevant resolution was adopted at the PACE spring session.

The resolution was supported by 87 votes.

Oleksiy Goncharenko, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, noted that the term genocide in relation to Russia’s actions was mentioned for the first time in an official document of this level.

He also noted that the Parliamentary Assembly welcomes the decision of the International Criminal Court regarding the arrest warrant for the President of Russia Putin and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova.

“And this is one of the most important decisions of the PACE in this resolution. Not all PACE members are countries that have ratified the Rome Statute. (The statute under which Putin’s arrest was issued). And the very adoption of this resolution expands the circle of countries where Putin is officially considered a suspect in war crimes. “Putin is a wanted war criminal. Now PACE has confirmed this,” Goncharenko emphasized.

Another member of the Ukrainian delegation, People’s Deputy Yevgenia Kravchuk clarified that the resolution:

– emphasizes that the facts of deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation are subject to the Genocide Convention of 1948;

– welcomes the decision of the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and the Russian “children’s ombudsman” Maria Lvova-Belova;

-supports the need to document, collect and evaluate evidence of the crime of genocide;

– calls on the International Criminal Court to consider bringing the perpetrators to justice for the crime of genocide; calls on member states to consider prosecuting all crimes in national courts;

– calls for immediate measures to stop the deportation of Ukrainian children.

The Russian military is holding almost 20 thousand Ukrainian children

As of the end of April 2023, more than 19,000 Ukrainian children are in Russian captivity.

This was announced by the wife of the President of Ukraine Olena Zelenska.

“19,319. This is the number of children who are still in Russian captivity. But this number is not final. We do not know what is happening to our children in the occupied territories,” said Olena Zelenska.

As you know, with the beginning of the first Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, the Russian invaders began to take Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories to Russia. Such abduction of children gained a particularly large scale after February 2022.

According to international law, the forcible abduction of children and deprivation of their national identity is a manifestation of the crime of genocide.

According to UNICEF, since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, since February 24, 2022, more than 500 children have died in our country. These are only confirmed UN data.