Envoys urge int'l community to act for over 20,000 Ukrainian children deported by Russia

More than 20,000 Ukrainian children have been deported or forcibly separated from their families amid the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war, envoys from the European Union (EU), Canada and Ukraine to South Korea said, calling on the international community to join hands to address "large-scale and systematic" violations of children's human rights. Ugo Astuto, ambassador of the European Union to South Korea; Philippe Lafortune, ambassador of Canada to South Korea; and Andrii Vieshkin, charge d'affaires ad interim of Ukraine to South Korea, made the appeal in a joint op-ed published by Yonhap News Agency on Monday. The EU, Canada and Ukraine are members of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, launched in February 2024, and they hosted a high-level meeting of the coalition in Brussels last week. "Today, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine has officially confirmed more than 20,000 cases of deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia or temporarily Russian-controlled territory," the envoys said. "The unlawful deportation and forced transfer of Ukrain