{"id":290590,"date":"2025-12-03T15:52:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T20:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/80\/?p=290590"},"modified":"2025-12-04T10:48:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T15:48:57","slug":"pga-remarks-at-the-general-assembly-eleventh-emergency-special-session-22nd-plenary-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/80\/2025\/12\/03\/pga-remarks-at-the-general-assembly-eleventh-emergency-special-session-22nd-plenary-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA Remarks at the General Assembly: Eleventh Emergency Special Session, 22nd plenary meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remarks by the President of the General Assembly,
\nH.E. Ms. Annalena Baerbock,<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the 22nd<\/sup> \u00a0plenary meeting of the eleventh Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly on Ukraine,
\n3 December 2025, 3:00 PM, General Assembly Hall,<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n[As Delivered]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Excellencies,<\/p>\n

Imagine you are a sixteen-year-old going about your day at home, perhaps thinking about school, or an evening with friends.<\/p>\n

When suddenly soldiers armed with machine guns, wearing balaclavas to mask their face, burst into your home.<\/p>\n

They give you thirty minutes to gather your belongings, force you into a vehicle, and drive you away in an unknown direction.<\/p>\n

And you find yourself stuck for months in a nightmare, with a different name, not allowed to speak your own language, cut off from contact with your loved ones.<\/p>\n

What sounds like fiction was a long, terrifying, reality for Vladyslav Rudenko, who was taken from his home in Kherson, in southern Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tried to break me in every possible way\u201d he later told reporters.<\/p>\n

His story is just one among thousands.<\/p>\n


\n<\/u><\/em><\/strong>Thousands<\/em> of Ukrainian children have been estimated to\u00a0 forcibly relocated and \u2018re-educated\u2019 since Russia\u2019s aggression against Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Some have been forcibly adopted, while others have been sent to military training camps.<\/p>\n

Vladyslav was among the few who could be rescued.<\/p>\n

Another was Nastia,<\/b>\u00a0who I met in Kyiv, in the Hope and Healing Center for rescued children.<\/p>\n

Through tears, she asked me:<\/p>\n

\u201cPromise me you will not give in to the aggression. Promise me that you will not stay silent about what is happening. There are so many children, including some of my friends, who just want to come home.\u201d<\/p>\n

She may not know the precise role the General Assembly of the United Nations plays.<\/p>\n

But in those few sentences, she distilled the essence and spirit of this institution, and the core responsibility it still bears eighty years after its founding.<\/p>\n

To heed the calls of the people.<\/p>\n

Especially the most vulnerable among them – children.<\/p>\n

And on this issue, these are not just their calls.<\/p>\n

This is what international humanitarian law, which is crystal clear, demands of us, the General Assembly.<\/p>\n

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the forcible transfer or deportation of protected civilians, including children, from occupied territory under any circumstances.<\/p>\n

Likewise, the Convention on the Rights of the Child affirms every child\u2019s right to identity, family life, nationality, and protection from abduction.<\/p>\n

What we are witnessing, therefore, is not merely a tragedy of some children.<\/p>\n

It is a blatant violation of international law<\/p>\n

Excellencies,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since February 2022, the General Assembly has reiterated its calls, across eight resolutions adopted during its Eleventh Emergency Special Session, for the immediate, complete, and unconditional withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine\u2019s internationally recognised territory.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That is why the question of returning Ukrainian children cannot be viewed in a vacuum, for this issue would neither have arisen nor persisted without the Russian Federation\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Earlier this year, ES-11\/7 adopted by this Assembly highlighted its concern that the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation has persisted for three years, and continues to have devastating and long-lasting consequences not only for Ukraine, but also for other regions and global stability.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In this context, the General Assembly has exercised its responsibilities with purpose and resolve, at a time when the wider Organisation is under strain and when the Security Council has remained unable to act.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Each General Assembly resolution has reaffirmed the need for a peaceful settlement grounded in the Charter of the United Nations and in the principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is in this same spirit, anchored in the Charter of the United Nations, and in the resolutions of this Assembly, that we resume today the 11th Emergency Special Session, for the sake of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine, for the sake of protecting the international order, the Ukrainian people, and the most vulnerable among them: their children.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I thank you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read Here<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch Here<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Other Related Documents:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Revised draft resolution A\/ES-11\/L.16\/Rev.1<\/a>\u00a0Return of Ukrainian children (introduced by Ukraine) – ADOPTED by recorded vote: 91 votes in favour-12 against-57 abstentions<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eleventh Emergency Special Session Webpage<\/a>; S\/2014\/136<\/a>; PGA Letter ESS Here<\/a><\/p>\n

List of speakers (prov.)<\/a>\u00a0<\/u>LIVE<\/p>\n

More on Website: www.un.org\/pga\/80<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Watch Full Broadcast Here<\/a><\/p>\n

Statements<\/a>\u00a0<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n