Mariana Betsa. Photo: Bring Kids Back UA on X (Twitter)
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The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution by a majority vote demanding that the Russian Federation immediately and unconditionally return all illegally deported Ukrainian children.
Source: broadcast of the General Assembly session; text of the resolution; Ukrinform
Quote: “The General Assembly… demands that the Russian Federation ensure the immediate, safe and unconditional return of all Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred or deported;. urges the Russian Federation to cease, without delay, any further practice of forcible transfer, deportation, separation from families and legal guardians, change of personal status, including through citizenship, adoption or placement in foster families, and indoctrination of Ukrainian children.”
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Details: The document was supported by 91 countries. Twelve countries voted against it and 57 abstained.
Countries voting against the resolution, apart from Russia itself, included Belarus, Iran, Nicaragua, Cuba, Eritrea, Mali and several others.
Fifty-seven countries abstained, including China, India, Brazil, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Qatar and Pakistan.
As explained by Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa during the presentation of the document, the resolution is not about politics, but purely humanity and the moral duty of the international community.
She emphasised that Russia’s war against Ukraine has made children the most vulnerable target of aggression, adding that Russia not only kills and maims children but also seeks to erase their identity.
Betsa highlighted that Ukrainian children are prohibited from learning their native language, literature and history and are instead subjected to hostile propaganda in temporarily occupied territories and in Russia. Children are forced to repeat falsehoods about Ukraine being a “Nazi state” and are recruited into so-called “youth armies”, where they undergo military training and ideological indoctrination.
The Foreign Ministry says Russia has so far deported at least 20,000 Ukrainian children. Ukraine has managed to bring home only 1,850 of them.
UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock stressed during the consideration of the draft that the deportation of children is a gross violation of international humanitarian law.
She emphasised that Article 49 of the IV Geneva Convention prohibits the forced transfer of civilians from occupied territories under any circumstances. Similarly, the Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees every child the right to identity, family life, citizenship and protection from abduction.
Baerbock emphasised that the issue of returning children cannot be considered separately from the fact of the Russian invasion. She noted that the General Assembly acts consistently in circumstances where the UN Security Council remains unable to make decisions due to Russia’s position.
“We resume today the 11th Emergency Special Session, for the sake of a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine. For the sake of protecting the international order, the Ukrainian people, and the most vulnerable among them: their children,” Baerbock said.
Diplomats stressed that supporting the resolution is a vote for international law and justice, as it creates mechanisms to ensure that abducted children can once again live on their native land.
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