Press release 10-08-2023
PRESS RELEASE: “BRING KIDS BACK UA”
Release Date: 10-08-2023
Orphans Feeding Foundation
The Hague, The Netherlands
Bring the stolen kids back home
Thousands of Ukrainian children have forcibly been removed by Russia from their families and homes.
The Orphans Feeding Foundation is mandated to announce the ‘Bring Kids Back UA’ project, a large-scale campaign to raise awareness, build political pressure, raise funding to trace and return the deported children back home to their Ukrainian relatives.
Russia has forcibly removed 200,000 Ukrainian children*. The Ukrainian government has been able to identify 20,000 of them. To this date, less than four hundred children returned to Ukraine and reunited with their relatives or guardians. According to international law, including the 1948 Genocide Convention, such acts constitute genocide if done with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a nation or ethnic group. The United Nations has therefore stated that the deportations of Ukrainian children constitute war crimes**.
Mandated by the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, and in close collaboration with the Presidential Office of Ukraine, the Orphans Feeding Foundation now coordinates and supports the “Bring Kids Back UA” project, which aims to unite the efforts of the Ukrainian government, partner countries and international organisations to trace, identify, repatriate and care for the Ukrainian children.
Besides the obvious goal of reuniting Ukrainian families and giving back those children their lives, the programme also aims to provide the ICC (International Criminal Court in The Hague) with facts and proven information they need to prosecute the criminals responsible for these illegal deportations. To ensure sustainable peace of mind for those torn families, it is paramount that those crimes do not go unpunished.
Those unfortunate children will have lived a traumatic experience that no one would wish for their own children. To make them feel as safe as possible after they are brought back “home”, the Orphans Feeding Foundation has teamed up with the Children’s Rights Protection Center (CPRC) and various local NGOs to set up rehabilitation centres for the children and their guardians. These centres will have trained staff to help them reintegrate back into regular life..
Mariam Lambert: “As soon as the crisis in Ukraine escalated in February 2022, we refocused our activities to supporting Ukrainians in this terrible period, from the expatriation of refugees to the provision of medical and food supplies to hospitals and orphanages all along the front line.
We are very honoured to have received various awards from the Ukrainian authorities for all the aid provided these past five hundred days. After the award from the Ukrainian Parliament, we are deeply touched by the trust received from President Zelenskyy in the form of the Order of Merit of Ukraine. This motivates us even more to continue our humanitarian support to Ukrainians, especially to the Stolen Children of Ukraine via the ‘Bring Kids Back UA’ project. Our foundation can now focus on a cause that is close to our heart: the children of Ukraine, their future, and their return.”
‘Bring Kids Back UA’ programme
The ‘Bring Kids Back UA’ action plan was presented by the Presidential Administration of Ukraine. The Coordination Council for Child Protection and Safety under the President of Ukraine, chaired by the Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, together with the unified efforts of the Ukrainian government, partner countries and international organisations, aims at returning the Stolen Children of Ukraine.
The action plan covers the following components:
- Identification and location of the Ukrainian children deported by Russia
- Advocacy and international diplomacy support to bring the kids back home
- Rescue and protection of Ukrainian children
- Reintegration of children who have returned from illegal deportation
- Aftercare and development of infrastructures to host the returned children and their
families - Documentation of crimes for submission to the ICC by the Ukrainian authorities.
About the Orphans Feeding Foundation
Mariam and Samuel Lambert established the Orphans Feeding Foundation in 2011, with the mission to support orphans and vulnerable people globally. The NGO’s main objectives are to support orphans and vulnerable children regarding education, nutrition, and health. Volunteers and donors can contribute to the greater good without all the administrative and financial overhead. All donations benefit the children directly.
BRINGKIDSBACK.ORG
The special project website BRINGKIDSBACK.ORG to raise awareness and funding for the ‘BRING KIDS BACK UA’ project. Publication in August.
#BringKidsBackUA
ORPHANS-FEEDING-FOUNDATION.ORG
The NGO’s website with all information on previous projects, in Ukraine and around the world, and the special focus on the Bring Kids Back UA programme.
Contact Information:
Mariam Lambert
Orphans Feeding Foundation | co-founder
Email: mariam@orphans-feeding-foundation.org
Tel: +31 638 073059
Samuel Lambert
Orphans Feeding Foundation | co-founder
Email: samuel@orphans-feeding-foundation.org
Tel: +31 643 060702
www.orphans-feeding-foundation.org
* European Parliament report
** United Nations Seventy-seventh session report
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The images on our website can be used free of charge for non-commercial purposes in line with the objectives of the ‘Bring Kids Back UA’ project when the source and photograph are mentioned.
PRESS MATERIALS: www.orphans-feeding-foundation.org/press
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