By Janet Ekstract
İSTANBUL (GOLDENHORN AGENCY)- Türkiye’s Chief Ombudsman Seref Malkoc speaking at the Planning and Budget Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, said that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) requested help from his country to reunite unaccompanied Russian and Ukrainian children with their families. Turkish Ombudsman Institution (KDK) is set to meet with officials from the Ombudsman of Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul to talk about the “convergence corridor” mechanism. Thousands of children have been separated from their parents as a result of the war in Ukraine and UNICEF expressed that since Türkiye has good relations with both Ukraine and Russia, Malkoc said UNICEF wants Türkiye to be a bridge to reunite children displaced by the war, especially in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Malkoc added: “The parents of some of the children died, the parents of some of them went to different places due to the war. UNICEF said that the Turkish Ombudsman has very good relations with the Russian and Ukrainian Ombudsmen. They asked us if you could do some work to save unaccompanied children in these regions or to support them and reunite them with their families.”
At the meeting, Malkoc explained a proposal submitted by UNICEF almost two months ago, to the Ombudsman Institution for help in reuniting the children. He said a platform will be created to assist not only unaccompanied children but civilians in captivity, prison or in any other dire war-related situation. Malkoc said visits will be made regularly to inform the world about this situation. Malkoc added: “In a way, we are trying to strengthen the function of Istanbul regarding the grain corridor and prisoner exchange in the field of human rights.”
