Speech by the High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell in the EP plenary on the Ukrainian children forcibly deported to Russia

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Speech by the High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell in the EP plenary on the Ukrainian children forcibly deported to Russia

13.03.2024 EEAS Press Team

Speech delivered by Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Šuica, on behalf of High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell

Good morning to everybody.

Dear President, Dear friends from Ukraine, Dear Honourable Members [of the European Parliament], Dear Minister [ for Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Foreign Trade of Belgium, Hadja Lahbib],

A generation of Ukrainian children has experienced more than a year of fear, loss, tragedy and violence.

They had to leave life as they know it behind them.

Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine is having a devastating effect on all Ukrainians, but especially on children.

The European Union is not silent in light of Russia's unlawful deportation or transfer of Ukrainian children.

This is a terrible crime, inflicting unimaginable suffering.

The perpetrators of these crimes must be held accountable.

These children must return to their families and to their communities.

To achieve this, the European Union fully supports a number of different initiatives.

The European Union participates in the Ukrainian initiative "Bring kids back UA", supported by President [of Ukraine, Volodymyr] Zelenskyy's office.

This initiative will unite efforts of the Ukrainian authorities, foreign governments and international organisations and works on returns, on accountability, and on prevention.

In Kyiv, the European Union is part of the "Group of friends on children and armed conflict in Ukraine" with other foreign missions.

The European Union will also continue to support and engage with the United Nations 's Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) mandate and welcomes Russia being included in its "list of shame" for the first time this year.

We welcome the launch of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children on the 3rd of February this year.

The European Union will continue to follow the work of the Coalition closely and is currently assessing how it can best support the Coalition and its activities.

The European Union is also fully committed to take all necessary efforts to ensure that those responsible for the crime of unlawful deportation or transfer of Ukrainian children are held accountable.

Seventeen Member States have so far opened investigations into international crimes committed in Ukraine, and the European Union is supporting these national investigations through strengthening judicial cooperation via Eurojust.

Six Member States and Ukraine are members of the Joint Investigation Team, to which the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Europol are participants.

In this vein, we warmly welcome and support the issuing of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court.

The fact that the Court singled out the acts of unlawful forced deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children as the war crimes as a base for the first arrest warrants since the start of the Russian invasion, illustrates both the urgency and severity rightly attached to the issue.

The European Union has so far supported the ICC with over €10 million since the beginning of the invasion.

The Court is a key actor for consistency and enforcement of the international criminal justice system.

The European Union has been and continues to support the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine to strengthen its capacities to investigate and prosecute international crimes committed in Ukraine.

This also includes support for the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group, together with the United States and the United Kingdom.

We have financed the IT advancement of the Prosecutor General's Office with €4 million.

We are furthermore dedicated to support national investigations opened into international crimes committed in Ukraine.

In addition, the European Union is committed to improving the coordination of various support efforts to the Prosecutor General's Office through the international platform of the 'Dialogue Group'.

Dear Members, I look forward to today's exchange, thank you.

Link to the video (from 5:21): https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-254181

Closing remarks

Thank you, Chair. Honourable Members,

There is no need to repeat what has been said here this morning. But I have to say that I would subscribe [to] all the statements this morning but one which was really horrible. Horrible [statement] by a pro-Russian guy who tried to disseminate disinformation, fake news and propaganda. To hear this, it was disgusting.

The [European] Commission is committed to continue supporting the work of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of aggression against Ukraine, via Eurojust. The Commission aims to secure long-term funding for this institution and welcomes that the United States will contribute to it with over $1 million.

Eurojust's Core International Crimes' evidence database is fully operational to support activities of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

The Commission, together with the European External Action Service (EEAS), is committed to taking forward the discussions on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the crimes against Ukraine.

This discussion has shown the magnitude of the commitments of all of us - all of us share the same commitment. We have to address the issue in a much heavier manner if I may say so.

Time is ticking and we all need to do our utmost to ensure that these children return to their families and communities.

The return of the missing Ukrainian children is of vital importance to us in our work, both in terms of political priority and through various initiatives that we will continue to support.

We must help millions of Ukrainian children overcome the terrible trauma that has been inflicted on them. To enable them to regain a sense of normality and to regain their childhood in the end.

Every child matters and every Ukrainian child represents [Ukraine's] future. This is a sentence which I will repeat: Ukraine cannot be rebuilt without its children.

In this vein, we must ensure that the Ukrainian reconstruction and reconstruction efforts, and national reform processes mainstream children's rights and needs throughout. This is something which I am also in charge of in my Demography portfolio.

Investing in children is an investment in Ukrainians' future, in Europe's future and in a safer world.

So, it is an investment in humanity.

To conclude, once again, Russia must be held accountable for these horrible acts.

The European Union is taking action. Sanctions have been imposed on 39 individuals for the deportations and for this forced transport of Ukrainian children.

We are trying. We keep drawing attention to these horrible acts - also in the international fora, which is also important. As I already said in my introductory statement, we cooperate under "Bring kids back UA".

So, together we can do more, and we are trying to do our best.

Thank you very much.

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-254183