Advisor - Authorized Representative of the President of Ukraine on Child Rights and Child Rehabilitation Daria Herasymchuk, UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine and Humanitarian Coordinator Denis Brown, and UNICEF Representative Murat Shahin have signed a joint preventive plan aimed at preventing and ending serious violations of children's rights in the context of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
Next week in New York, the document will be endorsed by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba.
"Today, Ukraine takes another, far from the first step to save Ukrainian children from the Russian invaders and demonstrates respect for UN mechanisms and rules by signing the jointly developed preventive plan with the United Nations. We hope that other countries around the world will follow our example, as today it's about Ukrainian children, and tomorrow it could be any child in any country around the world," stated Daria Herasymchuk after the document signing, which took place at the Office of the President of Ukraine.
As emphasized by the Advisor - Authorized Representative of the Head of State, Russia is the first permanent member of the UN Security Council in history that the UN Secretary-General mentioned in the annex to his annual report "Children and Armed Conflict" for the year 2022 among other countries that committed such violations.
The signing of the joint preventive plan with the UN is an important step within the framework of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, a comprehensive action plan developed at the initiative of Volodymyr Zelensky. The plan brings together the efforts of the Ukrainian government, foreign governments, and international organizations to facilitate the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia to their homeland.
As noted by the Head of the Office of the President, Andriy Yermak, there is much work ahead to bring back Ukrainian children, and the efforts of Ukrainians will not cease until every citizen is back home, alongside their families.
"The release of all prisoners and deportees is an important point of the Peace Formula. Thousands of our people, including more than 19,000 Ukrainian children, are in Russian captivity. Ukraine is grateful to everyone around the world who helps to bring Ukrainians back home. We must free all these people, and we will definitely do it together," summarized Andriy Yermak.
