On November 7, Jonatan Vseviov, Secretary General of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, paid a working visit to Strasbourg, where he participated in the meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies of the Council of Europe. The central topics of the visit were the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression committed against Ukraine and the situation of Ukrainian children deported to Russia.
During the Deputies’ session focused on deported Ukrainian children, Vseviov emphasized that the international community shares a collective responsibility to ensure that all Ukrainian children can return to their homeland. To date, nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia, where they are subjected to propaganda aimed at severing their ties with Ukraine. The Secretary General stressed that these acts constitute some of the gravest violations of international law. Estonia highly values the work of the Council of Europe Secretary General’s Special Envoy, Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir, in addressing the issue of Ukrainian children and ensuring that these crimes do not go unnoticed or unpunished.
Later in the day, the Secretary General addressed the crime of aggression against Ukraine at another Deputies’ session. Under the auspices of the Council of Europe, a special tribunal is being established to hold accountable those responsible for the crime of aggression. The relevant agreement between the Council of Europe and Ukraine was signed in June of this year. Vseviov emphasized that to prevent impunity from taking root, the special tribunal must be launched as swiftly as possible. This requires the participation of like-minded countries in its administration. Just yesterday, the Estonian government approved Estonia’s accession to the tribunal’s management committee, which oversees its administrative work and funding.
In addition, the Secretary General met with Council of Europe’s Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge. During the meeting, Estonia signed a voluntary donation to support the activities of the Special Envoy for Ukrainian Children, aimed at protecting them and facilitating their return home.
Secretary General Vseviov also met with Despina Chatzivassiliou, Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He attended a breakfast with Nordic-Baltic (NB8), UK, French, Dutch, and Ukrainian ambassadors, and a lunch with ambassadors from the European Union, Moldova, and Slovenia.
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