The association For Ukraine, for their freedom and ours! welcomes the issuance of arrest warrants for child abductions against Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova Belova by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

With this public decision, to which we are proud to have contributed at our level, by filing a report in December with the Office of Prosecutor Karim Khan, with our counsels Messrs. Daoud and Sebbah, the ICC recognizes the crime of child abduction and names the primary culprits at the highest levels of the Russian state. The ICC also sweeps aside the obscene claims of Russian propaganda, which dares to cover its crimes with humanitarian pretexts. It opens up immense hope for the return of all deported children and signifies that the rule of law must prevail and that there will be no peace without justice.

Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova are now pariahs in the eyes of the entire world! A milestone has been reached, despite the denials of Russian officials, who claim to be immune because their state is not a party to the ICC. Vladimir Putin will no longer be able to travel without fear to the 120 countries that recognize the ICC's jurisdiction.

The judges will decide on the legal qualification of the crimes of abduction of Ukrainian children, but the genocidal intent is established in particular by the public decisions taken by Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova Belova, and in particular the presidential decree of March 30, 2022.

Behind Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova Belova, hundreds of Russian officials, including defense and justice ministers, regional governors, regional children's rights officials, and the military hierarchy involved in the deportations, will also be held accountable before international justice. Russian families who illegally "adopted" Ukrainian children must immediately return the children or refuse to adopt them, as they are complicit in their abductions.

Following the ICC's decision, the UN and international institutions must be allowed to locate and visit the children to arrange their return.

Emmanuel Macron and the European Council of March 23 and 24 must demand the return of the children. As Prosecutor Karim Khan stated, children, protected in times of war by the Geneva Convention, must not become spoils or the subject of negotiations. Demanding their return is one of the conditions, the fourth, of the peace plan outlined by Volodymyr Zelensky in November at the G20 summit. This red line set by Ukraine must be that of Europe and all European diplomacy.

This is a widely shared moral and humanitarian demand, as much as it is a legal and political one. Moved by the plight of these children, nearly a million Europeans have signed one or other of the two petitions calling on European leaders to intervene.

However, since the kidnapping alert launched by President Volodymyr Zelensky in the spring of 2022 and in France, the opinion piece published by our association and several personalities in Le Monde on August 1, 2022, the heads of state and government of the European Union have remained silent on the deportations of children. On March 23 and 24 at the European Council, they must break their silence and solemnly demand the return of all deported children. The protection of suffering children and the honor of Europe are at stake.