Carina Ödebrink addresses Ministerial Council side event in Vienna, 4 December 2025COPENHAGEN, 11 December 2025 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Envoy on Russian Abductions and Deportations of Ukrainian Children, Carina Ödebrink (Sweden), represented the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly at the OSCE Ministerial Council Side Event “Justice and Humanity: Returning Abducted by Russia Ukrainian Children to Their Families”, held at the Hofburg in Vienna. Organized by the Permanent Mission of Ukraine and co-sponsored by 41 OSCE participating States together with Japan (OSCE Partner for Cooperation), the event gathered senior leaders and experts to address Russia’s systematic deportation and indoctrination of Ukrainian children.
Opening the panel, Andrii Sybiha, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, underscored the urgency of international action to secure the return of abducted children. He was joined by other high-level speakers including Kaja Kallas, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the the European Commission, Elina Valtonen, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Johann David Wadephul, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany, Espen Barth Eide, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, David van Weel, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Stephen Doughty, Minister of State of the United Kingdom, Rob Oliphant, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada and Megan Gittoes of GLOBSEC. The discussion was moderated by Ambassador Yurii Vitrenko, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna.
In her remarks, Special Envoy Ödebrink stressed the urgency of moving from words to action, calling Russia’s deportations clear violations of the Geneva Conventions and war crimes under the Rome Statute. She highlighted evidence of forced transfers, unlawful adoptions and identity changes while underscoring the indispensable work of Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab, which has documented up to 35,000 children held in more than 200 facilities.
Special Envoy Ödebrink called on OSCE participating States to provide the necessary funding for the Yale Research Lab to continue its vitally important work in 2026, warning that its current resources are set to expire at the end of this year. “Every child must be brought home, guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the best interests of the child. What we need now is leadership, co-ordination, courage and action,” she said.
The event reaffirmed the determination of Ukraine and its partners to intensify efforts through the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children and the Bring Kids Back UA program. Special Envoy Ödebrink underlined her commitment to stepping up the OSCE PA’s engagement in these efforts, ensuring that the fate of abducted children remains at the heart of international diplomacy and accountability initiatives. She also noted that she will look at opportunities to continue to raise engagement and awareness in the context of the upcoming OSCE PA Winter Meeting scheduled to take place on 19–20 February.
Her participation in Vienna follows a series of recent engagements on the same topic. The Swedish Delegation to the OSCE PA and the Swedish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe organized a High-Level Meeting in Stockholm on 24 November, attended by Her Majesty the Queen. The event took place in connection with the Forth Parliamentary Summit of the Crimea Platform. The panel discussion featured, alongside Special Envoy Ödebrink, the Council of Europe’s Special Envoy Thordis Gylfadottir, Ukrainian MP Olena Khomenko, and Nathaniel Raymond, Executive Director of the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab.
Yesterday Special Envoy Ödebrink joined a podcast hosted by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung together with Tobias Winkler, Head of the German Delegation to the OSCE PA, to discuss the abduction of Ukrainian children and the role of the OSCE PA and the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children. In late November, she also met with representatives from Ukraine’s central social-service authorities, the Coordination Centre for Family Upbringing and Childcare Development and the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare to discuss reintegration challenges. These talks emphasized humane and effective integration processes, psychological support, and educational opportunities for returned children, while highlighting successful rehabilitation initiatives already established in Lithuania and Estonia.
For more information on the work of the Special Envoy on Russian Abductions and Deportations of Ukrainian Children, please click here.
