PACE Declares that Abducting Ukrainian Children is Genocide

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) approved a strongly worded resolution regarding Ukrainian children who were abducted and subjected to russian attempts to erase their identity, as well as those who have found refuge in the EU.

Reportedly, the decision adopted by PACE members concerns all Ukrainian children, as there are no children untouched by Russian aggression. The PACE resolution is based on a project prepared by Ukrainian National Deputy Olena Khomenko, supported by 85 PACE members with no votes against it. 

The document calls on the national parliaments of all Council of Europe member states to adopt decisions “condemning the war crimes against children and recognizing deportations, forcible transfers, and unjustifiable delay in repatriation of Ukrainian children … as a crime of genocide.”

Addressing the Assembly, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska asked national parliaments “to join in order to force Russia to comply with at least the Geneva Conventions and immediately provide comprehensive lists with the names and whereabouts of all Ukrainian children who have been illegally deported.” Every rescued child “is a special operation involving many countries and dozens of people who care. That’s how we succeed. And there are dozens of caring countries and millions of caring people in the world. At least I believe in this,” she added.

The adopted text reiterates that “all Ukrainian children have the right to enjoy the rights and freedoms enshrined in relevant international human rights instruments” and emphasized that “the best interests of the child must prevail in all decision-making processes concerning them,” reinforcing the principle that children should never be used as “a means of exerting pressure or as war trophies.”

The Assembly, therefore, called on national parliaments to adopt resolutions recognizing these crimes as genocide, and the international community to collaborate with Ukraine to trace and repatriate missing children, namely “to identify, locate and return them to Ukraine.”