The administration of US President Donald Trump has halted funding for a program that tracked the mass deportation of Ukrainian children to russia. Democratic lawmakers are seeking to reinstate the initiative and impose sanctions on those responsible for the abductions.
As Reuters reports, by cutting funding for a number of government programs and international aid, the White House has halted an initiative led by the Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab (Yale HRL). This program documented cases of forced deportation of Ukrainian children, but after it was discontinued, researchers lost access to important data, including satellite imagery and other information about approximately 30,000 deported children.
In their letter, the House lawmakers are calling not only for the program to be reinstated, but also for sanctions against russian and Belarusian officials involved in the illegal movement of children.
"These flagrant, openly acknowledged violations of children's rights under international law demand consequences," the document states.
The letter also states that Yale HRL no longer has access to satellite imagery needed to monitor the whereabouts of abducted children.
"Our government provides an important service - one that does not require the transfer of weapons or cash to Ukraine - to achieve the noble goal of rescuing these children. We must immediately resume work to help Ukraine return these children home," the lawmakers emphasize.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on February 19, Ukraine returned another 15 children who were in the occupied territories or were being held in the aggressor country of russia.
On February 17, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets stated that russian invaders had taken 4,000 Ukrainian children to study in occupied Crimea.
We will remind you that earlier the National Resistance Center said that children from the occupied territories are being used by the russians as a tool of military propaganda.
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