"Very alarming:" The Ukraine peace proposal largely ignores the plight of Ukrainian children in Russian captivity -
"Very alarming:" The Ukraine peace proposal largely ignores the plight of Ukrainian children in Russian captivity -
What Does the Ukraine Peace Proposal Mean for Abducted Children?
cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/42589825
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The highly-discussed draft 28-point peace plan (now reportedly revised to 19 points) endorsed by the United States seems to address, although not resolve, all the major points, including the return of abducted children of Ukraine.
According to the available text of the initial plan, “A humanitarian committee will be established to resolve open issues,” including the return of civilian detainees and reunification of families. In the current version, such a committee will be launched after the deal is agreed upon. Such an approach is dangerous.
Russia has attempted many times to turn Ukrainian abducted children into bargaining chips. Suggestions to exchange them for POWs have been unsuccessfully floated during the Istanbul talks. The proposal demonstrates Russia’s approach to children in general: a source of leverage that can be pulled to extract concessions, muddy the waters, and delay the agreements.
Ukraine made it clear: abducted children should be returned unconditionally and before the deal is finalized with Putin. Otherwise, Russia has no incentive to return children and will take forever to give back a fraction of those who have been kidnapped. What prevents Russia from signing an agreement, having sanctions lifted, and taking ten years to find children that it has “rescued”? By that time, most children will either be adopted, drafted to the army, or brainwashed beyond the point of no return. And Russia will bear no consequences for its actions.
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The current peace plan also does not mention anything about children in the occupied territories of Ukraine. 1.6 million Ukrainian children are trapped under the Russian occupation, facing militarization and conscription into the Russian army. At least 600,000 children are of school age and forced to study in Russian schools and visit notorious military camps. Many of them want to go to Ukraine but have no safe way to do so. Many are waiting to be liberated and hope to go back to their normal lives. The current peace plan serves those children to Putin on a silver platter by giving up their homeland and omitting the need to rescue them from the Russian occupation.
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The fact that there is no mention of international legislation that regulates the issue of crimes against children (the Genocide Convention or the Convention on the Rights of the Child) is very alarming. Those documents provide concrete procedures for executing the returns and would pressure Russia to comply. Leaving them out of the deal would give Russia an upper hand in organizing the return of children. Nothing in the current deal prevents Russia from returning a dozen children and calling it even. Without third-party access to Russian records and effective monitoring mechanisms for the return process, talk of rescue risks becoming performative rather than effective.
Overall, a peace plan in its current version allows Russia to dictate the fate of thousands of Ukrainian children who have been abducted or live under occupation. This can easily turn from a humanitarian catastrophe to a national security threat. Russia will turn Ukrainian children into soldiers for future wars against NATO. The administration should reaffirm its commitment to saving children everywhere by including Ukraine in peace negotiations and making the return of children a precondition for further negotiations.
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