Author:
The Foundation's team
The session of the European Parliament's committee began in an unconventional way with the reading of a letter from a boy living under the occupation, who was illegally taken out of Ukraine by the Russians. During the year of the full-scale war, Russia deported 16,224 children. Besides deportation, the Russian occupiers regularly commit other crimes on the territory of Ukraine. This was announced by the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation at the meeting of the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education on April 27.
"Today, the international institutions from all over the world must work tirelessly together to bring our children home. Politicians, international organizations, and volunteer communities should work together to document crimes committed by Russia and bring criminals to justice," urged Andriy Chernousov, a member of the Board of the Foundation, a leading expert of the Kharkiv Institute of Social Research, and a member of the coalition on documentary studies.
Children illegally deported by Russia from Ukraine need psychological support. The crimes that the Russians commit against them have a strong impact on their psychological state and life in general.
"We want the European Parliament and the European community to help Ukrainian children to return home. But, in addition, these children need psychological and psychosocial support. We must help them return to normal life after the crimes committed against them by the Russians. This is what our Foundation does. The scale of the consequences of Russian criminals’ actions is catastrophic," the co-founder of the Foundation Azad Safarov emphasized.
European politicians have heard the real stories of children from the Kherson region, who were abducted by the Russians and taken out of Ukraine. In addition, the Foundation presented the book ‘War through the Voices of Children’ to European parliamentarians, in which children reflect on the war.
"We have been collecting children's sayings almost since the beginning of the war, since 2014, when Russia first invaded the territory of Ukraine. However, most of the quotes are from their life already under the conditions of a full-scale invasion. They are about what these children experience and see every day because of the war waged by Russia. These are expressions about hope, the struggle for childhood and one's happiness. This book is a record of the modern history of Ukraine," said the Foundation's communications expert Olena Yermolenko.
We would like to remind you that the Voices of the Children recently spoke at the OSCE briefing, where they presented the annual monitoring report of Russian crimes against Ukrainian children. It was prepared by the Foundation together with the Kharkiv Institute of Social Research.
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