The Russian Federation refuses to cooperate and provide adequate responses to the international community's appeals regarding the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to the territory of a terrorist country or to the TOT of Ukraine. This was stated by Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić in an exclusive commentary to UNN.
She referred to the Lanzarote Committee that has asked Russia to report back on the situation of abducted children. And she added that Russia is not co-operating with the Committee.
This practice of the Russian Federation to kidnap Ukrainian children and take them to Russia or to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine is truly appalling. It goes against every human, moral or humanitarian value that we have
According to her, the relevant committee, which coordinates the application of the Convention on the Exploitation and Sexual Abuse of Children, took the initiative to demand that Russia inform about the fate of the abducted children. Unfortunately, despite the demands of the international community, the aggressor country refuses to cooperate and provide adequate responses to the Committee's requests. This raises serious doubts about Russia's compliance with international law and humanitarian norms.
All of these people should be deported back to Ukraine and to their families. Now, what we do with this, is to our Lanzarote Committee party is coordinating the work of the Convention on exploitation and sexual abuse of children. They have asked Russian Federation to report back on the situation of these abducted children. Unfortunately, Russia is not cooperating and it's not giving an adequate answer to the Committee. But still, this time more Russia shows that it's not complying with international law that is breaching the international humanitarian law
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Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović-Burić assured that she would continue to try to work on solving this problem, emphasizing the need to support Ukrainian children and their families.
"We will indeed continue to insist that these children belong to Ukraine, belong to their families. We will think about how to bring them back to Ukraine. We will continue to do everything possible to support these children and their families," she summarized.