Response to interpellation 2024/25:295 on Russia's kidnapping of children from Ukraine
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns Russia's deportation and forced relocation of Ukrainian children. M considers these actions to be war crimes and crimes against humanity 1. M argues that Sweden provides political and financial support so that the children can return home 1 and that Russia must be held accountable 2. M wants Sweden to raise its voice against countries such as Belarus, China, and Iran 3 and that children's rights are ensured 2. S considers the removal of children to be a way of depriving a country of its future 4. S emphasizes the importance of supporting Ukraine regarding child protection systems. S considers that Members of Parliament have an obligation to stand up for human rights 5.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Mr. Speaker! Carina Ödebrink has asked me what measures I and the government have taken so that the kidnapped children can return to Ukraine. She has also asked what support we provide to organizations that work with documenting and investigating crimes against children in war, as well as what support is given to rehabilitation regarding the kidnapped children.
Russia's deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children is one of several examples of Russia's brutal warfare. Illegal deportation and forced transfer of civilians constitute war crimes and can also constitute crimes against humanity.
Sweden provides political and financial support to Ukraine's work to ensure that deported and forcibly displaced Ukrainian children are able to return home.
Sweden is part of a coalition, together with some forty other countries, to bring back deported and forcibly displaced children to their families. The coalition was launched by Ukraine and Canada in February 2024. The coalition coordinates between Ukraine and partner countries in communication regarding the children's situation and contributes to ensuring that the children can be reunited with their families.
Sweden also supports organizations such as Save the Children, UNICEF, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which assist in the work of identifying and repatriating children who have been deported or forcibly displaced.
The Government welcomes Ukraine's intensified efforts to develop a system for the rehabilitation and reintegration of these children, and Sweden also has broader support for Ukraine's ongoing reforms to build inclusive, integrated, and resilient child protection systems.
Sweden also provides support that improves access to psychosocial interventions for children, through among others Save the Children, ICRC, the Ukrainian Red Cross and Ukrainian civil society organizations. Sweden also provides support for improved Ukrainian trauma processing for children through Barnafrid at Linköping University.
Sweden is actively working for accountability for the crimes committed through and during Russia's aggression against Ukraine. This is done, among other things, through support for the International Criminal Court, which in March 2023 issued an arrest warrant against President Putin and Russia's children's rights commissioner Lvova-Belova on the grounds of illegal deportation and forced transfer of children. This is an important step for accountability.
The arrest warrants mean that the authorities of the 125 states parties to the Rome Statute, which is the International Criminal Court's founding document, are obliged to arrest Putin and Lvova-Belova if they are on the territory of the states parties. Sweden has also seconded Swedish prosecutors and investigators to the court.
In addition to this, Sweden supports accountability through the UN, EU, and OSCE as well as through a number of civil society organizations. The support goes, among other things, to Ukrainian civil society organizations that document war crimes, such as Docudays. Sweden also participates in a core group of countries working to jointly with Ukraine establish a tribunal with jurisdiction over the crime of aggression.
Carina Ödebrink (S)
Mr. Speaker! I would like to begin by thanking the Minister for the answer in this important issue, which I believe takes a real holistic approach to what this is about.
Mr. Speaker! There is probably no more effective way to rob a country of its future than to start with the children. I want to provide a little background to my interpellation. As the rapporteur for the special support team that OSCE PA has for Ukraine, I have a special responsibility for the Ukrainian children.
When we stand here today, Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine is soon entering its fourth year. Democracy is being pushed back, and with it, human rights and countries' freedom and sovereignty to choose their own future. More and more people on our earth live in countries that no longer qualify as democracies.
This year marks 50 years since the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe was formed – what is now the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The Helsinki Declaration marked the common will for an organization for countries that definitely do not think alike but who see the need for a common platform to be able to meet and conduct dialogue. It is an organization to reduce tension in the region, promote economic cooperation, and achieve humanitarian improvements for their populations.
It is against this background, Mr. Speaker, that it is more important than ever today to stand up for what we have jointly agreed upon. It is about values, decisions, and obligations regarding democracy and human rights. Just as it is with the question of Georgia, this is also an issue where there is a broad political consensus in Sweden's Riksdag. It is a matter of standing up for Ukraine and supporting the Ukrainians in their struggle with all available means, which is also our struggle.
Since Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine began, thousands of children have been kidnapped or taken away by Russia to occupied areas in Ukraine or to Russia, often under false pretenses. According to Ukrainian authorities, it concerns approximately 20,000 children. The number is, however, very uncertain, and it could involve significantly more.
Many of them are children who have been in institutions. Hardly 400 of these children have been able to return to Ukraine. According to Human Rights Watch, these Ukrainian children and their parents are subjected to double abuses. The children are separated from their parents and from their country, and they are also deprived of their identity and their human rights through disinformation and propaganda. To this should be added that Russian authorities have simplified and facilitated the possibilities to adopt these children.
I would therefore, against the background of the answer that the Minister has given, like to ask what additional measures the Minister sees as potentially relevant when it comes to supporting Ukraine both here and now, and so that the country can take the important steps that are needed the day the war is over.
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Mr. Speaker! First, I would like to thank you for an incredibly important interpellation debate and for the great commitment that Carina Ödebrink has in the matter. We need to fully stand behind Ukraine's endeavor to get back every child who has been deprived of their country and their parents.
I truly share the concern over the illegal deportation and forced displacement. Illegal deportation and forced displacement of civilians constitutes, as I said initially, a war crime and can also constitute a crime against humanity.
Ukraine has identified almost 20,000 children that Russia has forcibly displaced within the occupied areas of Ukraine or deported to Russia since the full-scale invasion began. As Carina Ödebrink notes, it is not known with certainty how large the actual number is. That there is a dark figure is also due to the fact that Russia does not recognize this crime but calls it evacuation. We receive reports that Russian authorities obstruct the tracking and reunification of children. Ukraine has stated that only about 1,000 children have returned to Ukraine. It is far too few, and it is going far too slowly.
We see that Russia is systematically working with issues concerning Ukrainian children. There are, for example, reports that the children have been forced to change names and obtain Russian passports. They are given education according to Russian curricula and are forbidden from speaking Ukrainian. There are also reports that children participate in camps where pro-Russian indoctrination occurs and, in some cases, also military training.
Sweden provides support to the International Committee of the Red Cross and insists that humanitarian actors must also be given access to the occupied areas in line with international humanitarian law. We also provide support through the EU, UN, and OSCE, and to civil society organizations working on the issue.
Sweden supports, for example, the UN's independent commission of inquiry for Ukraine, and to partially answer Carina Ödebrinks' upcoming question, I can say that Sweden has several times invoked the so-called Moscow Mechanism. Through these efforts, information regarding violations of and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law are investigated.
Sweden will maintain the pressure on Russia so that illegally abducted and deported children can come home and so that those responsible are held accountable. We are clear that Russia must cease these completely appalling crimes.
I mentioned in my interpellation answer how we work together with different countries, and I am very pleased that there is such an incredibly strong commitment to this, not only in the Swedish Riksdag but also across the entire world. I believe that we will constantly need to find new ways and adapt them based on how the war develops in order to be able to continue supporting Ukraine in getting their children back.
Carina Ödebrink (S)
Madam Speaker! Often we have heated debates in the chamber and in the Riksdag. We may disagree, and so it should be. There may certainly be differences in approaches even when it comes to this issue, but it is not always about the harsh conflicts. Here, instead, I see great value in highlighting a very important issue that we largely agree on.
One thing that is important to remember is that the removal of the Ukrainian children did not start in connection with Russia's full-scale invasion, but it started already in 2014. At that time, it was called the trains of hope from the Russian side. Russian citizens were transported to Crimea to illegally adopt Ukrainian children.
President Zelenskyy has appointed a special commissioner, Darya Herasymchuk. She and her staff work for the rights and rehabilitation of Ukrainian children. They document the children who have managed to return to Ukraine and their stories in order to be able to tailor rehabilitation and interventions individually to each child.
The methods for treating these children, which Darja Herasymtjuk and her colleagues have documented, are many and horrific. Children have seen their parents being killed. Children have been taken directly from their parents. One separates children and parents in special filtration camps and tells the Ukrainian children that their mother no longer needs them.
The list of how these children are treated can be long. Just as the Minister stated, they are used to be militarily trained and to be able to become a reserve in Russia's continued war.
OSCE's Office for Democracy and Human Rights has, as the Minister stated, presented four reports under the Moscow Mechanism in connection with Russia's full-scale attack against Ukraine. One of these reports specifically addresses the abducted, or kidnapped, children. In one of the reports, reference is made to the Istanbul Agreement, which states that OSCE's participating states have committed to actively promoting children's rights and interests, especially in conflicts and wars. It appears from the report that these children have been left completely without protection.
Two other things are also important to mention. For the first: It is Russia and Putin who are ultimately responsible for the situation regarding these children, but one must keep in mind that there are other countries, for example Belarus, which facilitate the handling of children and support Russia's war against Ukraine. For the second: When it comes to putting an end to the international law crimes regarding the Ukrainian children, the most important thing is to stop the war and to support Ukraine in terms of child protection systems and psychosocial interventions.
I would like to ask the Minister what opportunities she sees for taking measures to put pressure on Belarus. Russia is naturally number one, but it is also important to have a hard pressure on Belarus when it comes to this issue.
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! Just as Carina Ödebrink says, the Russian actions to remove, or deport, children is merely a continuation of a policy that began as early as in connection with the aggression in 2014 with children from Crimea and from parts of Donetsk and Luhansk. It is important for the government that Sweden continues to support investigations and documentation of all suspected war crimes since 2014.
Sweden is actively contributing to ongoing initiatives for accountability. We are participating, as I said, in the core group of countries working together with Ukraine to establish a tribunal with jurisdiction over crimes of aggression. In this context, it is pleasing that Ukraine, during 2024, became the 125th state to join the Rome Statute for the ICC. This means that Ukraine is also implementing the Rome Statute in its national legal order.
The ICC has ongoing investigations in the area which have so far shown, among other things, that Russia has intended to permanently remove the children from their own country.
Sweden supports, as I said, ODIHR, OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Their mapping shows that Russian authorities have obstructed the tracking of and reunification of children, among other things by not keeping any registers of the children. When I was in Kyiv last year, I discussed with the Deputy Prime Minister how this makes it difficult for them to map how extensive this is. It also naturally makes it harder to recover the children.
So, children are being moved regularly and Russian names are being used instead of Ukrainian. All of this also complicates matters. It is completely unacceptable – children's rights must be protected in the best possible way.
The Government welcomes that Ukraine is intensifying its national efforts to develop a system for the rehabilitation and reintegration of Ukrainian children who have been able to return home to their families.
Sweden also has broader support for Ukraine's ongoing reforms to build inclusive, integrated, and resilient child protection systems. During the years 2024-2027, Sweden will contribute a total of 105 million kronor to UNICEF's work in Ukraine and Moldova to reform social services and improve protection for children.
Sweden also provides support to, among others, The Reckoning Project, which is an international non-governmental organization that works to promote accountability by strengthening the conditions for investigating and prosecuting war crimes committed in connection with Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
When we talk about Russia's warfare against Ukraine, we must also highlight everyone who enables this warfare. This includes, among others, Belarus, China and Iran. Whether it is about arms deliveries or supporting these types of horrific actions, we must in every way raise our voices and also take a stand against these countries.
In conclusion, I would like to inform that a conference will be held in Stockholm during the spring to gather actors working with these issues. There, research results and experiences will be shared, and discussions will be held on how the support for Ukrainian children who have been subjected to deportation, forced displacement, retraining, or indoctrination can best be designed.
Carina Ödebrink (S)
Madam Speaker! We in Sweden are not spared from being part of the context we live in today when it comes to increased polarization, increased nationalism and an increased number of authoritarian leaders who trample on democracy or rather use democracy to destroy it. Also we in Sweden have such parts within us. Sometimes we need to look at ourselves in the mirror.
The Minister's tasks, responsibilities, and obligations are not solely limited to fulfilling the mandate from the government she sits in or to the demands that the Sverigedemokraterna place on the government. It is a responsibility and an obligation for all of us in the Riksdag to stand up for the values, decisions, and commitments we have pledged ourselves to. It is about human rights and about creating a better existence for the people who have given us the trust to be here in this chamber. Our mandate is not limited to what happens in Sweden, but we are part of a larger world.
With these words, Madam Speaker, I would like to thank you for a very good debate. I want to conclude by quoting Astrid Lindgren: Some things one must do, otherwise one is just a little brat. I think this issue is all too important to be forgotten.
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! There I actually shuddered a little. I truly agree. There are questions that one should argue about both loudly and clearly, and sometimes in a high tone, but there are also questions that only benefit from us joining forces and working together. The question of the abducted Ukrainian children is certainly one of those. I am very glad that we have had the opportunity to raise this issue today, because it is important that this debate remains alive, that we point to this issue as often as we can, and that we do it together.
I would like to conclude by quoting someone, not Astrid Lindgren but my ministerial colleague Camilla Waltersson Grönvall, who participated in a conference organized by OSCE in Montreal in October which dealt with Ukraine's peace formula.
There she said that our starting points in the work are that Russia must and will be held accountable, that impunity is not an option, that Sweden will continue to welcome and encourage various actors' work to facilitate the return of children who have been illegally deported from Ukraine, that children's rights must be upheld and the best interests of the child ensured, and that Sweden will continue to support and fund initiatives in line with that.
These were the main lines, and that is what the government stands for. We will continue to work on this issue. I am afraid that this is a task that will need to continue under many governments in the future, and in that case, it is even more important that there is a broad consensus.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.