On 4 November, the international conference “Deportation of Children during the Armed Conflicts” will take place in Strasbourg with Ukrainian authorities, international experts and NGOs. The conference organised to present a new training course on “Deportation of Сhildren during the Armed Conflicts” and to attract international attention to the deportation of Ukrainian children by the Russian aggressors.

The war of aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine has resulted in mass deportations and forced displacement of thousands of civilians, including children, to the Russian Federation, the temporarily occupied territories and Belarus.

According to the government portal Children of War,19,546 children have been deported and/or forcibly displaced.

The conference will feature speakers:

• Daria Zarivna, Advisor to the Head of Presidential Office of Ukraine, Chief Operations Officer of Bring Kids Back UA 
• Edita Žiobienė, Lithuanian Ombudsperson for the Rights of the Child
• Olena Khomenko, Vice-President of the PACE
• Cecilia Dalman Eek, President of the Chamber of Regions, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities 
• Mykola Gnatovskyy, Judge of the European Count of Human Rights
• Oleksandra Matviichuk, Head of Centre of Civil Liberties, Nobel Prize Winner (online)
• Ana-Maria Telbis, Head a.i. of Justice and Human Rights Training Division, Department for the Implementation of Human Rights, Justice and Standards of Legal Cooperation, Directorate General for Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI), Council of Europe
• Andriy Pasternak, Head of the Joint Centre for Coordination of Search and Release of Prisoners of War and Illegally Deprived of Liberty as a Result of Aggression against Ukraine at the Security Service of Ukraine
• Inna Zavorotko, Deputy Head of the International Law Section, Legal Department of the Ministry of Defence of Ministry of Defence of Ukraine
• Mariam Lambert, Co-Founder / CEO of Emile Foundation
• Ibrahim Olabi, Chief Legal Counsel, the Reckoning Project
• Olena Rozvadovska, CEO Voices of Children

The new course  “Deportation of Children during the Armed Conflicts”   is developed in the implementation of the Recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe N2253 (2023) “Deportations and forcible transfers of Ukrainian children and other civilians to the Russian Federation or to temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories: create conditions for their safe return, stop these crimes and punish the perpetrators” which called on the Council of Europe member states to prioritise the return of children, their rehabilitation and the creation of conditions for family reunification and preservation of the identity of Ukrainian children. Among other measures, the PACE Recommendation also proposed the creation of a new HELP training course on the deportation of children during armed conflict.

The expert authors of the course

• Patrycja Grzebyk, Professor at the University of Warsaw, President of the Humanitarian Action Network;
• Olha Poiedynok, PhD in International Law, Associate Professor of the Department of International Law at the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv;
• Veronika Bílková, PhD in International Law, Charles University, Director of the Institute of International Relations of Charles University;
• Natalia Hendel, Research fellow at the Geneva Academy in international Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law;

will present the new course «Deportation of Children during the Armed Conflicts”, which will provide lawyers with the knowledge and skills necessary to address the complex issues of child deportation in conflict zones and to effectively ensure compliance with international legal standards.

The course will help lawyers better protect children's rights through an in-depth understanding of relevant international human rights standards, international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

The course also addresses the treatment of children in situations of forced displacement, covers the rights of displaced children to family reunification and return, and explores mechanisms for holding both individuals and states accountable for unlawful deportations, examining liability under international and national criminal law, as well as the obligations of states arising from the international legal framework.

The course was developed within the framework of the Council of Europe Project HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) for Ukraine, including during wartime”, which is being implemented within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” (2023-2026).

The HELP online course is available in English in a self-learning format (free of charge, self-paced,  certificate of completion) on the Council of Europe HELP Online Learning Platform.

To participate in the conference online, please fill in the registration form.