South Africa joined the Vatican City and Qatar at a conference held in Montreal. The Conference was observed to mediate and facilitate the return of 20,000 Ukrainian children from Russia.
The Ministerial Conference on the Human Dimension of Ukraine’s Peace Formula brought together the representatives from 70 countries.
Considering this, the Foreign Minister of Canada – Melanie Joly said that the children, civilians and prisoners of war must be allowed to return home. She added while announcing an agreement by the delegates on steps to ‘bring these people back home.
Joly said that South Africa, Qatar and Vatican City would serve as intermediaries to support and negotiate the return of the children. Lithuania and Qatar would act as transit countries.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) also offered to help in mediating the exchanges of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war. Foreign Minister of Ukraine – Andrii Sybiha said that he was happy that they settled on the network of partners to speed up the process of repatriations.
Sybiha added that he is happy to back to Kyiv with concrete results which many Ukrainian families are waiting for. He added that in times when they see that international humanitarian law, unfortunately, does not provide protection or full protection.
Such joint efforts and leadership at the conference demonstrates that they could achieve the results.
Reportedly, Qatar has secured the return of dozens of Ukrainian children, since 2023, that had been moved to Russia and occupied the territories from the very start of its invasion in February 2022.
Kyiv has demanded the return of nearly 20,000 minors from Russia, which is a figure that many observers consider to be underestimated.
Notably, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in March 2023 for the President of Russia – Vladimir Putin and Commissioner for Children’s Rights – Maria Lvova-Belova for the war crime of ‘illegal deportations’.
These accusations have been rejected repeatedly by the Russian Authorities. Furthermore, the authorities claim to protect children from the fighting and say that they are ready to return the children to their relatives in Ukraine is they request it. According to Kyiv, 860 children have been repatriated as of now.