Russia is systematically exploiting Ukrainian children by forcibly mobilizing them into its army. This was recently stated by Yuliia Sachenko, Director of Anti-Trafficking and Child Protection at Save Ukraine, during an OSCE conference in Vienna.

At the moment, the international community views the militarization of Ukrainian children solely as a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention. However, russia’s actions also fall under the definition of human trafficking, according to the Palermo Protocol and the Council of Europe Convention.

Our team has evacuated 615 children from the occupied territories and from russia, and their testimonies confirm the three key elements of child trafficking:

🔺russia forcibly relocates Ukrainian children from the occupied territories
🔺It conducts systematic indoctrination and militarization
🔺And later uses these children for its own military purposes

Save Ukraine’s approach to classifying these crimes enables Ukrainian law enforcement and international judicial bodies to better assess the scale of russia’s criminal actions. International Criminal Court — ICC.

Meanwhile, with your support, we continue rescuing our children from occupation and from russia—paving the way for them to choose their own future.