Chairman Menendez Urges Secretary Blinken, Administrator Power to Support Ukrainian Children Abducted by Russia

WASHINGTON – This week, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Agency for international Development Administrator Samantha Power urging them to focus attention on Ukrainian children Russia has abducted during their unprovoked war against Ukraine. A March 2023 report issued by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine reported that thousands of children have been forcibly transferred to Russia since its full-scale invasion began in February 2022. The letter asks the Administration to impose sanctions on those responsible for the abductions, deportation, and unlawful adoption of these children by Russia.

In an exclusive New York Times interview, Chairman Menendez underscored that the United States had a critical role to play in providing more help to children coping with the trauma of the separations. “The sooner that we help that child, not only be reunited with their family but also overcome the nightmare that they’ve experienced, the less likely that there will be long-term consequential damages,” Chairman Menendez told Julian E. Barnes of the New York Times.

An excerpt from the article has been provided below:

Mr. Menendez’s letter, which was made public on Wednesday, also called on the administration to increase cooperation with the International Criminal Court, something that President Biden in recent days ordered the government to do. Mr. Menendez said he believed there was a variety of information that the United States could provide the court about Russia’s war crimes.

Helping bring justice to Ukrainian families, Mr. Menendez said, will be a key part of the diplomacy that ends the war. “There cannot be peace unless there is justice,” Mr. Menendez said. “And there cannot be justice unless there is accountability. And so that’s what we are trying to ultimately achieve here. And that is just as important as the military might that we’re giving Ukraine.”

A link to the New York Times interview can be found HERE and full text of the letter has been provided below:

Dear Secretary Blinken and Administrator Power:

I am writing to express my deep concern over the fate of the thousands of children whom Russia has forcibly moved from Ukraine during the course of its horrific war. As we continue to support Ukraine, I urge you to ensure we devote attention to these children; the next generation of Ukrainians.

According to a March 2023 report issued by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine – established by the United Nations Human Rights Council – thousands of children have been forcibly transferred to Russia since its full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Ukrainian figures indicate more than 16,000 children have been deported as of February 2023. Some Russian and Ukrainian officials provide figures in the hundreds of thousands. In most cases, Russian occupiers have forcibly taken children from newly occupied areas in the south and east of Ukraine.

As you are well aware, forced deportation of children in war is not only deeply abhorrent – a traumatizing nightmare that will do irreparable harm even to those children who are returned – but is also a war crime. Among all civilian groups impacted by the war, children are particularly vulnerable to trafficking, sexual exploitation, abduction, and illegal adoption. Russia’s well-known practice of giving these abducted children Russian citizenship, allowing Russia families to permanently adopt them, also creates greater trauma and complexity for their return. In March 2023 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for both President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, alleging that they are responsible for war crimes based on evidence of their involvement in unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine; a major step in pursuing accountability for these criminals.

I would ask that the Administration strongly consider the following urgent needs:

1. Resources for civil society and humanitarian organizations: Civil society organizations urgently need greater financial assistance to discover the whereabouts of deported children, reunite them with their relatives, and return them to Ukraine. As you know, these operations in Russia are risky, costly, and time-consuming. Following their return, these children and their families require psychosocial support that will ultimately benefit society as a whole.

1. Greater support for efforts by the ICC: I urge your administration to immediately cooperate with the ICC on this matter. The FY23 Omnibus included provisions loosening restrictions on U.S. engagement with the ICC’s work on the Ukraine matter, making congressional intent clear that the United States should assist the ICC for this critical effort. Despite this pivotal change, to date, your Administration has not provided this assistance. The Department of State and Department of Justice are supportive of providing assistance to the ICC’s investigation, but the Department of Defense has expressed unjustified reservations about such cooperation.

1. Support to international organizations: I urge the Administration to increase engagement and coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has a specific mandate in the Geneva Conventions to reunite families separated by war, as well as UN agencies, the International Organization for Migration, and the larger diplomatic community.

1. Sanctions and visa bans: Consider imposing sanctions on those responsible for the abduction, deportation, unlawful adoption of and unlawful issuance of Russian visas for Ukrainian children.

1. Public awareness: I urge you to focus more public attention on this issue so that the plight of these children is not forgotten.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of this important matter, and I look forward to hearing about the concrete steps your Administration takes to address this alarming element of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the immediate future.