Three Years, Countless Futures: Protecting Freedom and Ukraine’s Children

Abstract

The international conference on the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine was opened by the patrons of the Ukraine Centre - First Lady of Lithuania Diana Nausėdienė and First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska. The programme of the event consisted of two public expert panels, the first of which was entitled "Ukraine's Children in the Face of Threat". The experts discussed the scale and impact of forced displacement or deportation, illegal adoption and the psychological consequences for affected families, and shared their insights on how to find, return and integrate abducted children into society. The second expert panel, "International Support for Reintegration and Recovery", invited a conversation on cooperation strategies in the areas of trauma treatment, education and family-based care, highlighting the importance of international cooperation in rebuilding the lives of Ukrainian children. The expert panel discussion brought together stakeholders from the governmental and non-governmental sectors - representatives of the Lithuanian and Ukrainian governments, international and non-governmental organisations, experts in child protection, education and social initiatives.