Since 2023, Qatar has carried out more than 14 humanitarian operations that reunited 87 Ukrainian children with their families. Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, Dr Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad, gave the figures at the Second International Conference on Returning Ukrainian Children, Detained Civilians and Prisoners of War in Toronto, The Peninsula reported.
Doha conducts the operations in coordination with both parties to the conflict and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Some of the reunited families travelled to Qatar, where children and adults took part in physical and psychological rehabilitation programmes.
The minister stressed that protecting civilians, especially children, is a shared international responsibility, and that in Qatar’s view the war can only be resolved through dialogue and mediation.
Qatar’s wider support
Al Misnad also recalled Qatar’s financial assistance: $100 million in 2023 for Ukraine’s humanitarian needs in health, education and basic services, $20 million for the Ukrainian grain export initiative, $3.5 million for shelters, schools and kindergartens, and $5 million for refugees and internally displaced people. Fifty Ukrainian students received scholarships to study at Qatari universities. Together with the Olena Zelenska Foundation, Qatar is also rebuilding and constructing health facilities, including for children.
The scale of the problem
The conference on 28–29 September was co-hosted by Canada, Ukraine and Norway. According to figures presented by the Ukrainian delegation, 2,650 children had been brought back through the Bring Kids Back UA programme as of 28 September. Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice has confirmed 20,651 cases of deportation or forcible transfer of children, and the figures are not final, the Ukrainian government said.
“Ukraine is not asking for sympathy. We are asking for three things: access, information and return,” Social Policy Minister Denys Uliutin told the conference.
