A Public Dialogue “Abduction of Children is a Component of the Genocide of Ukrainians”
In the course of the war against Ukraine, Russia is committing the crime of genocide, seeking to destroy the Ukrainian nation. One of the components of the genocidal policy of the rashists is the kidnapping of Ukrainian children. They are forcibly moved to the territory of a terrorist country and transferred to a foreign environment for upbringing. The key goal of these actions is to destroy children’s self-identification as Ukrainians, turning them into a part of the Russian national group, which directly violates Article II of the UN Convention “On the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”
As the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, emphasised: “Children are not simply “taken out” from the occupied territory of Ukraine. Russia is deliberately trying to destroy any connection of children with Ukraine, with relatives. Children are taught lies about Ukraine and this war. Children are given up for illegal adoption – even when they themselves say that they have loved ones here in Ukraine and are trying to restore contact with their relatives.”
The truth about Moscow’s crimes needs to be published and understood as widely as possible, both in Ukraine and abroad. Therefore, the Holodomor Museum initiated a public dialogue on June 5, “Abduction of children is a component of the genocide of Ukrainians.”
We will talk about the reasons the forced relocation of Ukrainian children from a legal point of view is a component of genocide; how the Russian aggressors, in practice, have conducted the abduction of children from the occupied Ukrainian territories during 2014-2024; about their daily situation and further fate in the conditions of Russian captivity; about Moscow’s policy regarding their indoctrination and militarisation; about steps taken by the Ukrainian state to return children from Russia; about the role of public volunteer organisations and the international community in the process of saving Ukrainian children; moreover, about how the modern anti-Ukrainian policy of the rashists correlates with the criminal actions of the communist totalitarian regime.
Our speakers:
Daria Herasymchuk, Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights and Child Rehabilitation
Kateryna Rashevska, lawyer of the Regional Centre for Human Rights
Onysia Syniuk, legal analyst of the ZMINA Centre for Human Rights
Nani Gogokhia, candidate of historical sciences, Luhansk National University named after T. Shevchenko
Mykhailo Kostiv, Doctor of Philosophy in the field of history, head of the Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Research Department of the Holodomor Museum
When: Wednesday, June 5, 11:00 a.m
Where: Memorial Hall of the Holodomor Museum (3 Lavrska St.)
To join, please register: https://salo.li/2E72A5e