Secretary of the Coordination Council for the Protection and Safety of Children under the President of Ukraine, Advisor - President's Commissioner for Children's Rights and Children's Rehabilitation Daria Herasymchuk had a meeting with the delegation of the European Commission, European Parliament and Sweden led by Vice President of the European Commission Dubravka Šuica.
The delegation included: Vice-Speaker of the European Parliament, Coordinator for Children's Rights Ewa Bożena Kopacz, Minister for Social Services of Sweden Camilla Waltersson Grönvall, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine Matti Maasikas, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden Tobias Thyberg and others.
The interlocutors discussed the facts of the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, in particular with the subsequent change of their personal status, including citizenship, separation from parents or guardians, adoption and other violations and crimes against Ukrainian children by Russians.
Daria Herasymchuk spoke about cases of abduction of young Ukrainians by the occupiers. According to her, the main goal of our state is to completely stop the deportation of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation and ensure their safe return and reunification with their families.
"Ukraine is doing everything possible to return every child," she emphasized.
Advisor - President's Commissioner for Children's Rights and Children's Rehabilitation Daria Herasymchuk stressed the need to unite the efforts of all European and world institutions so that no Russian criminal who violated the rights of Ukrainian children escapes fair punishment.
"Together we must create such international legal mechanisms that will not only testify to the criminality of the intentions and actions of the occupiers towards Ukrainian children, but also serve as a basis for the protection of all the children of the world. Today, when we talk about saving and protecting the children of Ukraine, we actually care about the safety of all the children of the world," said Daria Herasymchuk.
Vice President of the European Commission Dubravka Šuica expressed hope that European sanctions and resolutions will be able to help Ukraine return all children.
"No country in the world has a future without its children. Ukraine has no future without its children. And we are ready to continue supporting you in this difficult mission to return Ukrainian children," she said.
The members of the European delegation emphasized their readiness to contribute as much as possible to finding ways to solve the issue of deportation and forced relocation of Ukrainian children.
At the end of the meeting, the guests received symbolic gifts - dolls, each of which has the name of a Ukrainian child kidnapped by the Russian invaders.