[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 56 (Tuesday, March 28, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H1471]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CONDEMNING KIDNAPPING OF UKRAINIAN CHILDREN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Nebraska (Mr. Bacon) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BACON. Mr. Speaker, 16,226 children in Ukraine have been taken 
from their families by Russia through forced transfers and deportations 
between February 24, 2022, and March 22, 2023. Let me say it again. 
16,226 Ukrainian children have been taken from their homes and sent to 
Russia. Most people call this act kidnapping or abduction.
  In March, the United Nations Human Rights Council determined that the 
Russian actions are a violation of human rights. On March 17, the 
International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President 
Putin for these kidnappings.
  When the Russians take these children, they are sent to ``reeducation 
camps'' where they wait until a Russian foster family is found.
  What lies are told to these children? That their family is dead?
  In the case of 12-year-old Sashko, the Russians told him his mother 
``no longer needed him.''
  In March of 2022, Sashko and his mother, Snizhana, were captured in 
Mariupol and separated in the Russian camp, not even allowing them to 
say goodbye to each other. Sashko was taken to have an eye injury 
treated and was then placed in an orphanage. After some time, he found 
a phone and secretly called his grandmother. She gathered all of his 
documents and risked her own freedom and possible detainment to go and 
get him. The love of a grandmother.
  With his grandmother's efforts, his courage, and the assistance of a 
large network of government and nongovernment entities, they were 
happily reunited. Sadly, they have not heard from his mother or even 
know where she is.
  While this story is hopeful, there are only 307 other children who 
share the same happiness of being returned to their families in 
Ukraine, which means there are approximately 16,000 missing Ukrainian 
children in Russia. We must join and support the Child Rights 
International Network, Bethany Christian Services, Voices of Children, 
and approximately 34 other organizations who are working together to 
save these children.
  The concurrent resolution we are proposing and submitting today 
strongly condemns this practice by Russia. This practice was employed 
by ruthless dictators like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol 
Pot, Augusto Pinochet, and other sadistic tyrants. Today, we can add 
Putin to that terrible list.

  Children everywhere should be protected from the cruelty of being 
ripped from their families and trafficked to another nation to be 
``reeducated'' and placed with a foreign family under the guise of the 
child not having a family.
  This resolution rebukes nations who provide aid and support to the 
Russian kidnapping enterprise. It condemns the forced adoption of 
Ukrainian children and implores Russia to work with international human 
rights and child welfare organizations to ensure the return of 
Ukrainian children to their home country and their families.
  We should have zero moral ambiguity when it comes to Putin. He is a 
war criminal and is committing barbaric human rights violations. He 
should be a global outcast and be held accountable.
  I thank Senator Klobuchar for introducing the companion legislation 
in the Senate, and I urge my colleagues in the House to join me in this 
mission of getting the Ukrainian children home.

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