17/09/2026 Children of Ukraine
Parliamentarians and international officials gathered in Paris on Wednesday 16 September to highlight the need to step up actions to secure the safe return of forcibly transferred and deported Ukrainian children and ensure accountability for the perpetrators of the crimes committed against them.
At a hearing convened by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Parliamentary Network on the Situation of the Children of Ukraine, senior representatives from the United Nations, Ukrainian authorities, the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, the OSCE Moscow Mechanism, and the International Criminal Court presented clear evidence of systemic violations of the rights of these children.
Vanessa Frazier, UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, highlighted her assessment of the clear and grave violations of the rights of Ukrainian children being committed by the Russian Federation – including those deported or forcibly displaced, those living in the temporarily occupied territories, and the children living under the aggression against their country. She congratulated the determination of Ukraine to continue schooling in the country despite all the challenges, and emphasized the importance of ensuring identification and tracking of the children who have been taken, in order to allow for their return and reintegration into their own country.
Maksym Maksymov, head of Bring Kids Back UA reported that thousands of Ukrainian children have been documented as deported or forcibly transferred, with only a fraction successfully returned, mostly without the co-operation of the Russian Federation. He stressed that a clear policy of deportation, indoctrination and militarisation was in play.
Daria Herasymchuk, Ukraine's National Governmental Focal Point on Children and Armed Conflict called for strong and swift international intervention in the face of this policy.
The hearing also examined the findings of the 2026 OSCE Moscow Mechanism, and ongoing investigations by the International Criminal Court. Speakers underlined the importance of preserving and sharing evidence, supporting national and international investigations, enforcing accountability mechanisms and ensuring that harm resulting from forced identity change, indoctrination and militarisation is adequately recognised.
Concluding the discussions, the Vice-Chairperson of the Network, Miapetra Kumpula-Natri (Finland, SOC) urged parliamentarians to do everything in their power to take the messages home to their national parliaments, aiming to gain impetus for concrete measures to bring the children home, ensure accountability, and partner with Ukraine in supporting its youth for a better future.
