“The Ukrainian Child Rights Network” facilitated the return home of a 14-year-old girl from Kharkiv who was taken to Russia

“The Ukrainian Child Rights Network together with the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine and the Office of the of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights returned another Ukrainian child to his or her homeland.

14-year-old Veronika, who found herself in Russia after Ukraine was invaded by a terrorist country, is now back home. The grandmother had to go through a difficult and dangerous journey to return her granddaughter to her native land.

To “Ukrainian Child Rights Network journalists from an international media corporation contacted us and received information about the child’s removal from Kharkiv to the territory of the Russian Federation, where she was placed in a center for social and psychological assistance. The child was taken there by a relative because of her loyalty to the aggressor country.

The Network’s staff talked to the girl’s mother and received her consent to return her daughter. It was decided that her grandmother would go for her.

“We met with the grandmother at the office of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, she told us about her granddaughter, and we developed a logistical plan, — says Daria Kasyanova, — chairman of the board of the organization, national program director of the SOS Children’s Villages Ukraine”. The network paid for the woman’s tickets to Moscow, and for her and the girl’s tickets in the opposite direction. All this time, we were in contact with Veronika’s grandmother – we accompanied her on this difficult trip.”.

“The grandmother recalls with horror and tears what she had to go through to bring her granddaughter back to her native land”, — recalls  Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

Each case of returning abducted children is, without exaggeration, a whole special operation that requires coordination of efforts of the state and public organizations – all those who can help.

“We worked together with the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories and the Ombudsman’s Office, — says Daria Kasyanova. — All steps and actions to return the deported children are kept quiet. And even after they are at home, not all information can be made public: we need to take care of the safety of their families, relatives who are still in the occupation, and not to harm the efforts to take other children from the enemy territories.”

According to Dmytro LubinetsVeronika will undergo rehabilitation and receive the necessary assistance: both medical and humanitarian, as well as tools to facilitate education in her native language.

“We are working to bring home every Ukrainian child and punish those who take them away and hold them hostage on foreign territory”, — emphasized the  Ombudsman emphasized.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia or the territories temporarily occupied by the aggressor, the following have been taken 19,486 children have been deportedand returned from deportation 369 children. This is the information of the website “Children of War” as of May 25, 2023. Specialists “Ukrainian Child Rights Network” contributed to the return of many children.

Currently, in partnership with Save the Children in Ukraine we are launching a special project to return children abducted by the enemy “THE WAY HOME”. Follow our publications.

In the meantime, you can support the project with a donation – the return of deported children requires and will continue to require considerable resources, including financial ones: follow the link
https://childrights.org.ua/pidtrymaty-nas/

#The Way Home