About our
project

Where Are Our People? is a global advocacy campaign initiated by the PR Army, an independent NGO of Ukrainian communication professionals. The campaign is aimed at uncovering forced deportations of Ukrainians to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus by Russian occupation forces.

Since 24 February 2022, from 2.8 to 4.7 million Ukrainians have been forcibly deported, states Human Rights Center ZMINA. According to the data of the President’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, about 250,000 children were abducted from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. They have been torn from their families and homes simply because they are Ukrainians — a nationality Russia’s leader openly says he wants to eliminate. A monstrous crime against humanity is happening now in today’s Europe.

Where Are Our People? has been active in advocating the topic and raising both civil and political awareness, resulting in a range of media publications and the implementation of sanctions against people involved in the forcible deportation of Ukrainians. Last year, the campaign received financial support for its activities. The team created a website, compiled the deportees’ accounts, and disseminated them to the media; developed an interactive map illustrating the locations where the deportees were involuntarily stationed; held two press conferences dedicated to the topic; and conducted in-depth historical research on the deportations of Ukrainians spanning from the Tsarist era to the USSR period and continuing through the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Given the increased civil and political focus on the issue and some initial actions taken by decision-makers to address Russia’s forced deportation of Ukrainians, the team behind the Where Are Our People? campaign is contemplating taking further steps to advocate for the cause.

OUR RESULTS

We documented over 30 stories of victims of deportations, including both children and adults. We offer those who managed to return to Ukraine as witnesses for media coverage.

We’ve facilitated the publication of around 200 materials in various media outlets across different countries, focusing on the US, France, Germany, Ukraine, the UK, and the Baltics.

We launched Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) pages to provide people with reliable information and calls to action, to connect with the press and store information about the war crime of deportation.

Together with our partners in France, Liberté pour l’Ukraine and Union des Ukrainians de France, we held a press conference dedicated to the issue of deported children. Among the participants were President’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Ukrainian human rights experts, parents whose children experienced deportation by Russia, French activists and researchers. We had over 30 journalists joining the press conference which resulted in 13 publications.

We co-organized an event with Georgetown University titled The Forcible Transfer and Deportation of Ukrainian Children by Russia: Search for Solutions.

We co-started a petition to return deported Ukrainians.

20 individuals involved in the deportations have been sanctioned by the EU and US based on our research and data.

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN

We unite people who will become ambassadors of the project and convey the importance of the problem of deportation of Ukrainians to create the ripple effect. We invite you to join the Where Are Our People? campaign and ask to:

– integrate the issue of deportation of Ukrainians into professional and public activities;

– use personal or professional social networks to spread information about deportation with the hashtag #WhereAreOurPeople;

– mention the issue of deportation of Ukrainians in public speeches and interviews;

– demand support for Ukraine.

Any initiative to spread information about the deportation
is welcome. We will be very grateful if you join the campaign
and contribute to the return of Ukrainians home.

We cannot leave our people in captivity of the enemy.
We won’t stop until we get an answer —