Remarks by the delegation of Ukraine

during the Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children

 (31 October 2025)

Ukraine expresses its gratitude to the Special Rapporteur Siobhán Mullally for her briefing and for highlighting, in the presented report, the findings of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.

However, as the Russian unlawful aggression against Ukraine persists, 6.9 million Ukrainians remain refugees across the world, and a further 3.7 million persons are internally displaced, the majority of whom are women and children – those most at risk of  trafficking. It is essential that Ukrainians fleeing war continue to receive full protection under international law, access to necessary services, and be safeguarded from all forms of trafficking and abuse.

Ukrainians remaining in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine often are subjected to torture, as well as enforced disappearances. To date, Ukraine has officially registered 19,546 cases of unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation.

Particularly alarming are the reports of widespread practice of re-education programmes seeking to erase children’s Ukrainian identity. According to the recent report of The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, Ukrainian children have been taken to at least 210 facilities inside Russia and in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, where they have undergone ideological “re-education” in at least 130 sites, and militarization in at least 39 locations.

Finally, Ukraine urges the Special Rapporteur to devote increased attention to the continuous risks of human trafficking and recruitment of children stemming from Russia’s war of aggression.

Thank you.