The Office of the President of Ukraine has reported that 33 countries have already joined the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, led by Ukraine and Canada. “I am grateful to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, for the initiative to create the International Coalition,” wrote Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrii Yermak.
Currently, the coalition includes Ukraine, Canada, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The Office of the President expressed hope that with such support from international partners, the International Coalition will significantly multiply the efforts of the President’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative and ensure the implementation of point 4 of the Peace Formula, “Release of prisoners and deported persons.”
“Our children should be at home,” emphasized Yermak.
Canada proposed the establishment of a coalition of countries to facilitate the return of Ukrainian children deported by Russia last October during a meeting of national security and foreign policy advisers. The initiative is a continuation of the Bring Kids Back UA program.
On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, as well as Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, who is Russia’s Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights.
Putin and Lvova-Belova are suspected of committing the war crime of illegal deportation and transfer of children from the occupied regions of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, which took place at least since February 24, 2022.
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