Forcible transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children : responses and accountability measures

On 13 November 2023, a workshop was organised on behalf of the Human Rights Subcommittee focusing on the forcible transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children by Russia, which has taken place since 2014 and vastly intensified since the full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022. Ukrainian, EU and third country diplomatic and political efforts to stop the deportations and repatriate children were looked at, along with initiatives by the civil society. The workshop examined the investigations and cases brought before national and international jurisdictions against state actors and individual perpetrators. Challenges on political, legal and practical fronts were scrutinised, leading to recommendations for what the EU could do to help bring the children back. One of the experts shed light on the situation of civilians in the occupied Ukrainian territories more generally. This report brings together the background briefings prepared for the workshop and a summary of the debate with Members, academics, experts from the civil society and EU representatives.