On June 4, the world marks the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression. In Ukraine, June 4 is also the Day of Commemoration for Children who were murdered by Russia in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Part of Russia’s campaign of genocide against Ukraine is the forcible abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children. The mass, systemic abduction of Ukrainian children is one of Russia’s most monstrous crimes against humanity.
A generation of Ukrainian children are having their lives and their futures stolen from them by Russia’s war. The grief and horror felt by Ukrainians who have lost their children to Russia’s war is too painful to imagine.
Russia’s murder and abduction of Ukraine’s children are acts of horrendous evil that must be condemned and punished. We call on the international community to help Ukraine defeat Russia and ensure that the perpetrators of Russia’s genocide are brought to justice.
Russian President Putin has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for “the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children is state policy. It is not spontaneous. It is a planned and systemic program. It is aimed at destroying the Ukrainian national and ethnic identity of Ukrainian children.
Canada and Ukraine co-chair the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, which coordinates “joint efforts and cooperation between Ukraine and partner states to address the issue of the unlawful deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children by the Russian Federation.”
On June 4, we come together to remember the innocent children – victims of Russia’s war against Ukraine. We pledge to do all in our power to ensure that the thousands of Ukrainian children Russia abducted are returned to Ukraine.
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