At the request of the Ukrainian delegation, the presidency of North Macedonia in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) convened an extraordinary special meeting of the Permanent Council of the OSCE, during which Advisor - President's Commissioner for Children's Rights and Children's Rehabilitation Daria Herasymchuk spoke about crimes against Ukrainian children committed by the Russian Federation since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Daria Herasymchuk informed the participants of the meeting about the horrifying situation in which Ukrainian children have found themselves because of the Russian occupiers, in particular, about the deaths and injuries of young Ukrainian citizens, about the violence against them, the abduction of Ukrainian children by the Russians, which is part of the crime of genocide against the Ukrainian people.
"Our goal is to completely stop the forced removal and deportation of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation and to take all necessary measures for their safe return and family reunification in accordance with the interests of the child and international law," said the Advisor - President's Commissioner for Children's Rights and Children's Rehabilitation.
She expressed gratitude for the initiation of the third "Moscow mechanism" of the OSCE in the context of Russian aggression, which will focus on the issue of deportation of Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories of our country to the Russian Federation, including illegal adoption and assimilation in Russia.
"Each of us is waiting for the results of expert missions and their conclusions. Let's protect Ukrainian children together, because tomorrow it could be any child from any country in the world," urged Daria Herasymchuk.
In their speeches, partners from the European Union, Great Britain, USA, Türkiye, Norway, Canada, and Switzerland thanked the Advisor - President's Commissioner for providing detailed information about Russia's violation of the rights of Ukrainian children and expressed their readiness to continue supporting Ukraine.