Vadym and Yevgen Popko Spoke at a Conference on Child Protection in Wartime

Vadym Popko and Yevgen Popko, partners at the law firm “Popko Brothers and Partners,” participated as moderators in the All-Ukrainian Conference “Protecting Childhood: The Right to the Future.”

 

The event, which brought together experts from across the country to discuss the issues of war that directly affect Ukrainian children, was held at the Educational and Research Institute of International Relations at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, celebrating its 80th anniversary this year.

 

The main goal of the conference was to discuss ways to support children affected by the war. The first panel, “Shattered Childhood: Deportation, Rights Protection, and the Path Home,” addressed issues of deportation, violations of children’s rights, and the preservation of Ukrainian identity. Panel participants included Arman Akopyan (Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights), Darya Herasymchuk (Advisor to the President on Children’s Rights), and Darya Kasyanova (Head of the Board of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network).

 

The second panel, titled “Children at the Center of Conflict: IDPs and Legal Mechanisms to Protect the Youngest,” focused on international legal mechanisms for protecting children’s rights. Speakers included Serhiy Nizhynsky and Snizhana Kushch (UA Experts NGO), Kateryna Rashevska (Regional Center for Human Rights), Albina Basysta (Associate Professor at the Department of International Law, Educational and Research Institute of International Relations), and Olha Poiedynok (lawyer and Associate Professor at the Department of International Law, Educational and Research Institute of International Relations).