NOVEMBER 1, 2024. Montréal, QC. On October 30-31, representatives of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) attended the Ministerial Conference on the Human Dimension of the Peace Formula, hosted by Canada, Norway and Ukraine, in Montréal.
The Conference, which was attended by over 70 countries and international organizations, was dedicated to returning Ukrainian children, civilians and Prisoners of War home from Russian captivity.
“Russia’s systemic abduction, deportation and attempted indoctrination of Ukrainian children is one of the most despicable crimes of the many vile crimes committed by Russia in its war against Ukraine,” stated Alexandra Chyczij, National President of the UCC, who led the UCC’s delegation. “In attacking Ukrainian children, Russia seeks to destroy Ukraine’s future. We are grateful to Canada and Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly for hosting this important summit and for rallying international support to return Ukrainian children, civilians and POWs home.”
About 20,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia. Russian President Putin and his “commissioner for children’s rights” Maria Lvova-Belova have been indicted by the International Criminal Court for this war crime. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians and POWs remain in Russian captivity. The vast majority of Ukrainians in Russian captivity have been subjected to horrific physical and psychological torture by their Russian captors.
On the side of the Ministerial Conference, UCC Québec Provincial Council hosted a community meeting with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, where the Ukrainian Canadian community’s strong support for Ukrainian victory and next steps in cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities and our community were discussed. UCC Québec also hosted a working lunch with Iryna Vereschuk, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. Minister Sybiha also presented the English-language translation of Mykhailo Hrushevsky’s A History of Ukraine-Rus to the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) and visited the Coin Litérature ukrainienne (Ukrainian bookshelf)- an initiative of Ukraine’s First Lady.
The Joint Communique from the Ministerial Conference is available here:
Joint Communique on the Human Dimension
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