According to the Ukrainian government portal Children of War,19,546 children have been deported and/or forcibly displaced since the start of the Russian aggression in February 2022. They are among thousands of civilians impacted by mass deportations and forced displacement to the Russian Federation, the temporarily occupied territories and Belarus.
On 4 November, an international conference in Strasbourg, entitled "Deportation of Children during the Armed Conflicts", is bringing together representatives of the Ukrainian authorities, international experts and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). One of the highlights of the event is the presentation of a new training course on deportation of children during armed conflicts.
The new course was designed following a recommendation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which called on member states to prioritise the return of children, their rehabilitation, the creation of conditions for family reunification and the preservation of the identity of Ukrainian children. The recommendation also proposed the creation of a new HELP training course on the deportation of children during armed conflict. The course provides lawyers with the necessary skills to address the complex issues of child deportation in conflict zones and to ensure compliance with international legal standards.
The HELP online course, part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine "Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction" (2023-2026), is available in English in a self-learning format (free of charge, self-paced, with a completion certificate) on the Council of Europe HELP Online Learning Platform.
