Netherlands wants more focus on Russia abducting children from Ukraine

The Netherlands and Germany want much more attention for Russians abducting children in the occupied east of Ukraine. “It concerns tens of thousands of children,” said Minister Wopke Hoekstra of Foreign Affairs. The world needs to pay more attention to these “despicable crimes.”

Hoekstra announced an initiative to achieve that during a joint press conference with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, who visited The Hague on Monday. The perpetrators must be brought to justice, the Minister said.

Hervorragendes Treffen mit meiner Kollegin @ABaerbock. Wir haben unsere starke, bilaterale Beziehung unterstrichen. Wir sprachen über den Krieg in der #Ukraine, die Situation im #Iran, #China, die 🇪🇺 und die gute 🇩🇪-🇳🇱 Zusammenarbeit in Politik, Wirtschaft & Kultur. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/cdhLYHBL4d

— Wopke Hoekstra (@WBHoekstra) January 16, 2023

The children are “illegally abducted from the territories annexed by Russia and placed up for adoption,” Baerbock said. There is little insight into what is happening in these occupied areas, “But the fate of the children must not be forgotten.”

The Dutch and German Ministers of Foreign Affairs want more attention on this topic internationally and will cooperate with the United Nations, the OSCE, and the International Criminal Court to achieve that. The children involved must be reunited with their parents, perpetrators must be held accountable, and the children must receive psychological help, Baerbock said.

“This deliberate policy by the Russians is tearing families apart and traumatizing children. It is cruel and inhumane,” said Hoekstra. “Russia must put an end to these criminal practices.”

The German Minister did not want to comment further on the possible delivery of modern battle tanks to Ukraine. There is a lot of international pressure on the German government to allow this. The topic will be discussed again on Friday in a meeting in Ramstein, Germany.

Poland and Finland have already agreed to donate some of their German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine. The German government must give permission for this, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz seems hesitant. “The discussion is still ongoing,” Baerbock said.

Hoekstra made it clear that the world must continue to support Ukraine with more weapons. “It is crystal clear to us that no matter what we do, the only way to resolve this conflict is on the battlefield. So more weapons are needed. If we pause, stop, or limit our deployment, everything we have done so far will have been done in vain.”

The Netherlands has already supplied the Ukrainian armed forces with around 1 billion euros worth of military equipment. Part of that was done together with Germany, such as the delivery of armored howitzers.