We, as rep­re­sen­ta­tives of a broad coali­tion of South African and Ukrain­ian civ­il soci­ety, met on the 19th and 20th March 2024 to dis­cuss Russia’s inva­sion of Ukraine, with a par­tic­u­lar focus on the war’s impact on Ukrain­ian chil­dren and their unlaw­ful depor­ta­tion and trans­fer to Rus­sia.

The plight of Ukrain­ian chil­dren is emblem­at­ic of the suf­fer­ing and deaths of chil­dren in wars across the world, par­tic­u­lar­ly in Gaza, the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Repub­lic of Con­go, Sudan and West­ern Sahara. Our approach to this glob­al cri­sis is root­ed in a deep com­mit­ment to human rights and this alone will guide us in our efforts to free the chil­dren of Ukraine and beyond.

South Africa’s own apartheid-era expe­ri­ence of chil­dren being arrest­ed and detained, sep­a­rat­ed from their fam­i­lies and sub­ject­ed to mis­treat­ment and tor­ture, informs our under­stand­ing of this cur­rent cri­sis and pro­vides us with the exper­tise and moti­va­tion to tack­le this new chal­lenge.

We have heard from experts, activists, aca­d­e­mics and polit­i­cal lead­ers, includ­ing the for­mer pres­i­dent of Ukraine, His Excel­len­cy Vik­tor Yushchenko. They have told us about the impact the war is hav­ing on Ukrain­ian chil­dren and how Rus­sia is sep­a­rat­ing chil­dren from their fam­i­lies, unlaw­ful­ly deport­ing them and delib­er­ate­ly try­ing to erase their Ukrain­ian iden­ti­ty.