Check against delivery - Speech by the Special Envoy of Secretary General on the situation of children of Ukraine

Ladies and gentlemen.

Today has already been a very valuable experience for me, and I would like to thank all of the speakers for their insights and candid discussion.

There is a lot of brain power assembled here today - and seeing the list of speakers, mostly professors and PhDs, is quite intimidating for someone like myself who is in more of a political role, although I benefit from my academic background in law, and from one of my current side-gigs as a lecturer in constitutional law at Reykjavik University.

So, while my input here today will not be very technical or academic, I can say that because of my background, I am fortunate enough to be able to comprehend and digest the discussions. All of it will prove valuable to my ongoing ambition to support the cause that we all share.

Likewise, I hope that my intervention will be useful to those of you who are working in a more academic setting.

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We are here because of a burning desire to contribute something positive in a world that seems so full of negatives.

We all want to make all the difference that we can muster.

If the moral arc of the universe bends towards justice, as Martin Luther King said - we want to help it bend a little bit faster, and — at the very least — keep it from bending in the wrong direction.

And, in this pursuit — we all have a role to play, and each role is important.

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As for my role here today, I am proud to represent the Council of Europe - the first purely human rights-oriented multilateral institution that was established after World War II.

I was appointed special envoy of the Secretary General on the situation of the Children of Ukraine last February - and although it is in some sense another side-gig, as my full-time job is being a member of the Icelandic parliament - it is easily the most important thing I am involved in.

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I am sure that we all share the same uncomfortable feeling that we are living through times where so much of what we have spent our lifetimes believing in - is in danger of falling apart.

And the job of all of us in this room has become not only to operate within a system of international law, but to defend and justify its very existence.

Which is precisely why we need venues, like this one, where serious people come together to listen and learn from each other - that we don't only have politicians talking to other politicians about the politics of it, academics talking with other academics about its theories, and practitioners discussing actual implications only among themselves.

Just like there were no silos when well-intentioned, educated, creative and courageous people came together to sort out the mess that the world had wandered into in the first half of the last century - there can be no silos now, because the very concept of international law and cooperation is being challenged and contested.

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Ladies and gentlemen.

The biggest culprit is the Russian Federation.

Its unlawful aggression against Ukraine is just one manifestation of its total disregard for the system of international law and the obligations and accountability that it should rightfully impose on all states, big or small, rich or poor, militarily powerful or vulnerable.

But in these times, we are faced not only with direct challenges to this system, but a sense of apathy and a lack of understanding by both politicians and the citizens.

So all of us must become part academics, part politicians, part practitioners - and full-time ambassadors for the most miraculous human invention - a system of human rights, predicated on humanitarian law - based on - and aiming for - our common sense of humanity.

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And with this in mind - let me turn more concretely to my subject - the horrific and systematic targeting by the Russian Federation of innocent Ukrainian children.

Various sources estimate the number of Ukrainian children stolen at between twenty and thirty-five thousand. These are children taken from the territory of Ukraine and placed within the Russian Federation, in Belarus or away from their families in the temporarily occupied territories. These are estimates, and the true numbers are almost certainly much higher.

These children must be found, tracked and brought back home.

One and a half million children are now living in the temporarily occupied territories. All of them are living under a repressive regime, they are subjected to brainwashing and militarisation, and many are at risk of being cultivated to be used as cannon fodder for the Russian war machine, against the people who are risking their lives to liberate them.

Millions of children living in Ukraine are being deprived of the freedom and security that all children have the right to. In addition to living under constant threat of bombardment, their schooling and daily activities are dominated by the war - and worst of all, millions of them have to suffer the absence of their fathers and brothers, and sometimes mothers and sisters, as they risk - and sometimes lose - their lives trying to secure a better future for them.

And while we talk about accountability, the situation is ongoing. Only around 1 600 children have been returned, and while the Russian Federation wages its war of imperial expansion, the harm continues to accumulate for all these millions of innocent children.

So we must all recognise that the best gift that can be given to these children is whatever can be done to help Ukraine achieve a just peace through victory.

Sadly, that is only the first stage in recovery from the terrible trauma these children have suffered. Years and decades of support will be needed to help manage and heal the scars of trauma that will mark their lives.

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Ladies and gentlemen.

There is no clearer example in Europe of the consequences of a breakdown in the international legal order than that which the children of Ukraine suffer.

And because the perpetrator is the Russian Federation, a world power entrusted with a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, the war in Ukraine is the most serious wound that has been dealt to the international system.

All of us who share the deep desire to defend this system must act in accordance with the direness of the situation.

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Ladies and gentlemen.

I hope I will be forgiven for speaking more as a politician than an academic - because, as I have said, we surely need both.

We need to prioritise our efforts.

We need attention, and when we get it, we need to speak clearly and educate society about what is at stake.

We need funds - and when we get them, we should direct them into efforts that lead directly to the freeing of children, the caring for them and their rehabilitation.

And Trauma-informed care will be essential in this regard, and this is something that I am focusing on in my mandate.

And above all - we need people.

We need human beings who will be there to hold the hands of these children, to look them in the eye and help them trust again.

We need to recruit human beings who feel a burning desire to contribute something good and positive to the lives of children who deserve it, a nation that depends on it - and to a world that needs it.

We need to aim for the humanity that is the foundation of both human rights and humanitarian law.

Thank you!