Russian forces have illegally deported more than 20,000 Ukrainian children to Russian territory. With each passing day, locating them becomes more difficult and only a few hundred have been found and returned.  Without significant international action, these children may never come home.

The Fourth Geneva Convention protects treatment of children who have been separated from their families during war, including those who have been evacuated from their homes due to bombing and fighting. 

According to the Geneva Conventions:

• Family members must be able to communicate with one another.
• Temporary evacuation of children should be to a neutral state and requires the consent of parents or guardians.
• And a system must be in place that registers the identity and whereabouts of any evacuated children.
• Changing the family or personal status, including nationality or civil status, of children is prohibited.

It is increasingly clear that Russia will not agree to release the names and whereabouts of the children unless they are put under continued public pressure. 

Add your voice to this petition and call on the United Nations to prioritize the safe return of thousands of stolen Ukrainian children.

We urge the United Nations to:

• Demand that Russia immediately registers the stolen children's identities and locations.
• Calls on relevant child-focused organizations to organize a coordinated repatriation of all of Ukraine’s abducted children.

Here are some of the children’s stories:

In Russia’s brutal siege of Mariupol, Sasha was hit by shelling and seriously injured. Russian soldiers carted him and his mother away in a large dump truck. Soon after that, they were separated. The Russians told Sasha his mother abandoned him and that he would be adopted by a family in Russia. His mother remains missing in Russia. 

When rockets hit Ilya’s home, he and his mother fled. As they ran, Russian artillery badly injured Ilya’s leg and his mother sustained a critical head wound. When they arrived at their neighbor’s, Ilya’s mother collapsed. She died holding her son. Ilya and his neighbors buried her in the yard behind the wreckage that used to be their home. Soon after, the Russians kidnapped him. He was taught to write and speak Russian, and used as a propaganda tool on Russian TV.

Kira’s mother died shortly after she was born, leaving her father, national water polo star Yevhen Obedinsky, to raise her. During the siege on Mariupol, their home was attacked and destroyed by shelling. Kira was rescued from the wreckage, but her father never emerged. While attempting to walk to safety, Kira was injured by Russian soldiers, captured and taken away. 

Reports indicate that Russia continues to forcibly take Ukrainian children, many of them orphans or displaced by Russia’s violent attacks on their homes. According to survivor testimonies, children held in Russia are being indoctrinated and told that their families have forgotten them.

Sign this petition to demand that Russia abides by the stipulations of the Geneva Conventions by releasing the identities and whereabouts of all forcibly deported children. 

United Nations Secretary General Guterres, we ask that you take action today, doing whatever is necessary to bring the children home swiftly and safely.

Share this petition with your network and use the hashtag #releasethechildren