Today, the Helsinki Commission of the US Congress held hearings on the impact of Russian aggression on Ukrainian children and women with the participation of Ambassador Oksana Markarova, Ambassador at Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack and Ukrainian Attorney General Andriy Kostin, who is directly involved in documenting and investigating war crimes, especially crimes against children, including forced deportation.

In her speech, the Ambassador emphasized the need to consolidate efforts to strengthen pressure on russia, which must create a registry of all deported children from Ukraine and share this information with the Ukrainian government and international organizations.

She also noted the importance of establishing effective mechanisms to return all children to Ukraine and to hold responsible all those who committed crimes against Ukrainian children on international and national levels. 

Oksana Markarova thanked the Helsinki Commission for its leadership in supporting Ukraine, and for drawing attention of Congressmembers to all aspects of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the need to bring the aggressor to justice.

She also thanked Congressmen Don Bacon and Jimmy Panetta, as well as Senator Amy Klobuchar for their introduction of the respective draft resolutions of the House of Representatives and the Senate condemning the abduction of Ukrainian children by the Russian Federation.

The hearing led by the Chair of the Commission, Representative Joe Wilson, provided testimony from top officials and experts on the ground to discuss the devastating impact of Russia’s war on Ukrainian children and women and what the United States and the international community can do to better protect these vulnerable women and children from the trauma of war and to prevent human trafficking. Among the participants were Senator Blumenthal, Representative Emanuel Cleaver, Representative Steve Cohen, Representative Victoria Spartz, Representative Marc Veasey, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, U.S. Ambassador at Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Cindy Dyer,  Director, Save Ukraine and former Presidential Commissioner for Human Rights Mykola Kuleba, The Center for Mind-Body Medicine representaive Dr. James S. Gordon, M.D.