Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak met with the renowned human rights lawyer, civil liberties and child protection advocate, Director of the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute, Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, who is visiting Ukraine.
Helena Kennedy is the co-chair of the international high-level group of experts Bring Kids Back UA and arrived in Kyiv to participate in the first meeting of the International Coalition of Countries for the Return of Ukrainian Children.
Andriy Yermak thanked Baroness Kennedy for her visit and support of Ukraine's efforts to return its underage citizens who were unlawfully deported and forcibly displaced by Russia.
"This is important for us. In my opinion, everything that the coalition works on together with our Bring Kids Back UA group is extremely important," the head of the Office of the President said at the beginning of the meeting.
The participants emphasized the importance of intensifying efforts to develop new effective mechanisms by the coalition and the group. It would significantly increase the number of children returned to Ukraine, according to Andriy Yermak and Baroness Helena Kennedy KC.
They drew attention to the importance of how international organizations perceive the issue of deported children and the steps that would contribute to their return.
The head of the Office of the President and Baroness Kennedy also discussed the involvement of representatives from different countries, and leaders, including religious leaders, in the effort to return children. Andriy Yermak expressed the belief that discussing this direction is crucial for achieving the result of returning children to their families and homeland.
"I fully support the involvement of various participants, especially representatives from the Global South as intermediaries or negotiation participants," he said.
Baroness Kennedy informed about her meetings in Kyiv and her visit to Geneva, intended to facilitate the return of Ukrainian children. She emphasized the difficulty for children to live without parents, far from their relatives. She highlighted the importance of intensifying efforts to return as many children as possible to their families.
"I think you should seize this opportunity to try. Let's see if we can achieve this great goal. We want to make efforts for about 500 children to be returned by Easter next year," Helena Kennedy said.