The International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and for Maria Lvova-Belova for war crimes of unlawfully deporting and transferring Ukrainian children from the occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation debated by MEPs. Opening statements by Jessika ROSWALL, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs and by Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

EU - Ukraine (T)

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

troubles in Ukraine (T)

Human rights (T2)

JOUROVÁ, Věra (EC)

ROSWALL, Jessika (SE)

Children forcibly deported to Ukraine and ICC arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin: opening statements by Jessika ROSWALL, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs and by Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission

SOUNDBITE (English), Jessika ROSWALL, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs, Mr. President, Honourable Members, Commissioner, when 12-year-old Sasha was forcibly removed from his home in Ukraine to Russian prison camps, he was separated from his mother. They said that no one needs me. That I would get a new family, a Russian family, he said.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jessika ROSWALL, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs, There are at least 700, perhaps thousands, Ukraine children like Sasha, who has become victims of the war crime. The Council is firmly committed to ensuring full accountability for war crimes and of the most serious crimes committed in connection with Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jessika ROSWALL, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs, As the European Council underlined, Russia must immediately ensure the safe return of Ukrainians forcibly transferred or deported to Russia, in particular children.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jessika ROSWALL, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs, In March, the European Council took note to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court a few days earlier. This arrest warrants involved not only Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, but also his Commissioner for Children's Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jessika ROSWALL, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs, The alleged war crime in the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia. To investigate these war crimes the ICC needs sufficient means and resources. Therefore, over the last year, EU Member states have provided additional support to the court as its workload has increased.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jessika ROSWALL, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs, At a conference for Justice ministers in London in March, many Member States indicated that they would continue to provide this extra support in the near future. They also stated their intention to assist the ICC in setting up a field office in Kiev.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jessika ROSWALL, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs, Whyle the arrest warrants show how proceedings are progressing in the ICC, I want to stress that the fight against impunity cannot solely rely on the International Criminal Court. For instance, the discussion about the establishment of a mechanism to prosecute the crime of aggression are well underway.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jessika ROSWALL, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs, The International Centre for Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression in The Hague, which will be supported by Eurojust, is an important first step towards accountability for the crime of aggression. We hope to inaugurate the center before the end of June.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jessika ROSWALL, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs, In its conclusion from December last year, the Council insisted on the need to maintain our efforts on several other aspects related to the core international crimes committed in Ukraine. This includes the support of national prosecutors and investigations, both by Ukrainian authorities and by the authorities in the Member states.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jessika ROSWALL, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs, The Joint Investigation team and the new core International crimes evidence database are two concrete example of these efforts. I would also like to thank the Eurojust support, the cooperation between the national level and the ICC seems to be working well.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jessika ROSWALL, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs, The Swedish Presidency will, together with the Commission, continue working to ensure a good coordination of all efforts to ensure accountability for the crimes committed in Ukraine. Thank you very much for your attention and looking forward to the debate.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, Thank you for organising this debate on a painful and urgent matter. On the 17th of March, this year, the pre-trial chamber, too, of the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights, for the war crime of unlawful forced deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, The fact that the court singled out the acts of unlawful forced deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children as the war crimes, as a base for the first arrest warrants since the start of the Russian invasion, illustrates both the urgency and severity rightly attached to the issue.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, Using the pretext of evacuation, Russia has started forcibly transferring and deporting Ukrainian children from non-government controlled territories of Ukraine to Russia just before the launch of Russia's full scale invasion in February 2022.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, The acts of deportation or forcible transfer of children have been reported by several international and Ukrainian organisations, including the International Commission of Inquiry, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Bureau in Russia and the National Information Bureau of Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, While the number of forcibly deported or transferred Ukrainian children varies according to the source. The National Information Bureau of Ukraine has received information of over 16,000 children concerned, as of last Friday. The scale is, in other words, massive.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, The Hague Conference on private international law, of which Russia is a member, has issued a statement recalling that international and national adoption procedures for children citizens of Ukraine shall not be carried out in any country of the world during the duration of martial law in Ukraine, without due regard to the legislation of Ukraine or pending the approval of the Ukrainian authorities.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, UNICEF has issued a similar statement and Ukraine has suspended its inter-country adoption programme until further notice in light of the Russian war of aggression. Adoption as a consequence of illegal deportation is a crime and shall not be tolerated.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, Dozhd U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Office in Russia and the independent Russian TV channel have also identified Ukrainian orphans in Russian orphanages, some of which submit the children to the so-called military and patriotic education.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, The incidents identified by the International Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor to base the arrest warrants on include the deportation of at least hundreds of children taken from orphanages and to children's care homes. In many cases, adoption of these children by Russians has allegedly followed. The prosecutor alleges that these acts, amongst others, demonstrate an intention to permanently remove these children from their own country.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, At the time of these reputations, the Ukrainian children were protected persons under the IV Geneva Convention. The court also underlined that most acts in this pattern of deportations were carried out in the context of the acts of aggression committed by a Russian military forces against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, which began already in 2014 as a result of the issuance of the arrest warrants.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, The International Criminal Court may transmit a request for the arrest and surrender of the suspects to any state of the territory of which those persons may be found and shall request the cooperation of the state in the arrest and surrender of the suspects. States Parties to the Court, including all EU Member States, have an obligation to comply with requests for arrest and surrender.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, Maria Lvova-BelovaRussia's public reaction to these arrest warrants has further exemplified its blatant disrespect towards the international rules-based order. The EU has already publicly noted the arrest warrants against Vladimir Putin and  and welcomed and encouraged all further efforts to ensure full accountability for war crimes and the most serious crimes in connection with Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, towards the enforcement of international justice.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, We will continue our support through the International Criminal Court. Since the start of this horrific war, the Commission has provided over 10 million euro to the court to strengthen its investigation and prosecution capacities.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, We are also dedicated to support national investigations opened into international crimes committed in Ukraine. In particular, the Commission has extended the mandate of Eurojust to collect and store evidence, and strengthened it to be well equipped to support the Joint Investigation team uniting Ukraine and six EU Member States, in which the Courts Office of the Prosecutor participates as well.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, Eurojust is competent to coordinate criminal investigations and prosecutions of individuals in cases where deportation or transfer of population amounts to international crimes. Following the request by the Office of the Prosecutor, competent national authorities participating in the Joint Investigation Team, have already shared information and evidence on deportations of children and can continue to do so in the future.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, This is crucial for case building, such as regarding the cases against Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova. The chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, acknowledged that the participation of his office in the team under the auspices of Eurojust has facilitate aided the swift coordination on relevant information and evidence established in the framework of the Joint Investigation Team and hosted by Eurojust.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, The International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine will provide a structure to coordinate investigations and exchange the relevant evidence relating to the crime of aggression.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, This the prompt support of the European Parliament. The regulation on Eurojust has been amended, which allowed the agency to set up a database to store and analyse evidence of international crimes committed in Ukraine. And we work closely with the Office of Prosecutor General in Ukraine, including to make sure they have all means at their disposal to conduct the investigations.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, Maria Lvova-BelovaHonourable Members, The EU also imposed sanctions against 16 individuals responsible for the deportation and forced adoption of Ukrainian children from areas occupied by Russian forces since 2022, including . The EU continues its efforts to notify perpetrators for possible further measures.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, Looking ahead, we remain fully committed to make all efforts to ensure that those responsible for the crime of unlawful foster protection or transfer of Ukrainian children are held accountable. And that the children of Ukraine are returned safely to their families and communities.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, In March 2023, the President von der Leyen, announced a Joint European Commission Poland initiative in partnership with Ukraine, aiming at bringing back these children. The starting point will be a conference to pull together international pressure to take all possible measures to establish the whereabouts of these children and bring them back home.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, According to the Ukrainian Children of War platform, only 361 children have so far returned to Ukraine. In this light, the EU supports the mandate of the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict to engage with Ukraine and Russia on the issue of deportation and child protection.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, We hope that information and data on Ukrainian children and their status can be swiftly established and returns mechanism instigated. As always, we will keep the well-being and best interests of the children at the forefront of all our actions. Honourable Members, thank you very much for your attention.