Ombudsman Office, Freedom House to cooperate on return of deported children

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets will cooperate with the international human rights non-governmental organization Freedom House on the issue of the return of Ukrainian children from Russia.

In a post on Telegram, the ombudsman announced the signing of the relevant memorandum, Ukrinform reports.

 “Today we signed a Memorandum with the international human rights non-governmental organization Freedom House. We have jointly agreed to cooperate on the return of Ukrainian children deported to the Russian Federation and/or the Republic of Belarus, as well as forcibly displaced within the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, to the territory of Ukraine and bringing the Belarusian and/or Russian officials involved to criminal responsibility," Lubinets wrote.

He expressed hope that joint efforts would achieve good results.

As reported, on November 19, Bohdan Yermokhin, who was illegally taken from Mariupol by the occupiers, was returned to Ukraine from Russia. Lubinets said that mediators - Qatar and UNICEF - were involved in the process of returning Bohdan Yermokhin.