What changed

on Return of Ukrainian children forcibly transferred and deported by Russia

B100250/2025

B100249/2025

Motion for a European Parliament resolution on the return of Ukrainian children forcibly transferred and deported by Russia

Motion for a European Parliament resolution on Return of Ukrainian children forcibly transferred and deported by Russia

(2025/2691(RSP))

having regard to its previous resolutions on Ukraine and Russia,

having regard to its numerous previous resolutions on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, in particular the one of 15 September 2022 on the human rights violations in the context of forced deportation of Ukrainian civilians to and forced adoption of Ukrainian children in Russia,

– having regard to RuleArticle 150II (e) of itsthe RulesConvention on the Prevention and Punishment of Procedure,the Crime of Genocide,

whereas since 2022 Russia has forcibly transferred over 19,000 children from Ukraine to Russia in complete violation of international law; whereas the actual number of children remaining in Russia is likely higher, with the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab estimating a figure as high as 35,000 as of March 2025;

– having regard to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention,

whereas President Putin and Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Lvova-Belova were indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the unlawful transfer of children; whereas Article 6(e) of the Rome Statute proscribes the forcible transfer of children from one national group to another as genocide;

– having regard to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989 and the additional protocols thereto,

whereas Russia targeted vulnerable groups of children for deportation, including orphans and children from low-income families; whereas Ukrainian human rights activists uncovered Kremlin documents dated prior to the full-scale invasion which laid out plans to remove Ukrainian children and bring them to Russia under the guise of “humanitarian evacuations”;

– having regard to Rule 150(5) of its Rules of Procedure.

whereas Putin signed a decree in May 2022 providing a simplified procedure for the acquisition of Russian citizenship for Ukrainian children; whereas many of the deported children are forced to endure “re-education” facilities, meant to instil pro-Russian sentiments though “military-patriotic” training while others have been forcibly adopted into Russian families; whereas Russia opened a cadet school for abducted Ukrainian children, creating a direct pipeline into the federal security forces;

whereas reportedly hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children have been forcibly transferred to the temporarily occupied territories or deported to Russian territory, without information about their whereabouts and in many cases to remote regions;

whereas the US State Department has paused funding for the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, with its massive data repository expected to be transferred to Europol and the future of its funding unclear;

whereas only about 1.200 among the documented 20.000 deported children have returned to Ukraine so far;

Condemns in the strongest terms the abduction, re-education, and illegal adoption of Ukrainian children by the Russian authorities and considers that these actions may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity; demands the immediate return of all deported children to Ukrainian-held territories in Ukraine;

whereas international law unequivocally prohibits transfer to an occupied territory or deportation from an occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power, which constitutes a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC);

Calls on the EU and Member States to use all tools at their disposal to pressure Russia into returning all children concerned and enable the prosecution of this crime in line with international law; calls on Member States to invigorate multilateral advocacy efforts, including through a UNGA resolution on the issue;

whereas on 17 March 2023 the ICC issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova for their responsibility for the war crime of unlawful transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children since February 2022;

Reiterates its support for the ICC arrest warrant for Putin and Lvova-Belova and calls on all the Rome Statute signatories to implement it; calls on the Commission to urgently activate the Blocking Statute and on the Member States to increase their diplomatic efforts in order to protect and safeguard the ICC as an indispensable cornerstone of the international justice system;

1. Demands that Russia inform about the names, whereabouts and wellbeing of all transferred and deported Ukrainian children and enable their immediate and safe return;

Regrets the pausing of US federal funds for Yale Humanitarian Research Lab’s renowned investigation into the deportation of Ukrainian children and calls on the EU and Member States to ensure this crucial research and data collection continues;

2. Urges the Russian federal and local authorities to grant international organisations such as the ICRC, OHCHR and UNICEF access to all Ukrainian children deported to occupied territory or to the Russian territory;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the VP/HR, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the President and Parliament of Ukraine, and the Russian authorities.

3. Reiterates that the deportation of Ukrainian children is a grave violation of international humanitarian law, in particular of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and constitutes a war crime;

4. Calls on the EU and its Member States to closely cooperate with and support Ukrainian authorities and other international organisations such as ICRC in their efforts to document all missing and deported Ukrainian children, determine their whereabouts and repatriate them in order to promptly reunite them with their parents or legal custodians;

5. Urges the US Government to maintain its crucial financial support to initiatives documenting and tracking deported Ukrainian children such as the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, and the EU to urgently enable such operations to continue unabated;

6. Emphasizes that any genuine peace deal must entail the return of the children as well as accountability for their deportation to Russia;

7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission/ High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and to the President, Government and Parliament of Ukraine, the United States and the Russian Federation.