Norway is increasing humanitarian assistance aimed at supporting Ukrainian children who were deported, detained civilians and prisoners of war through UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The additional funding will support efforts to locate missing people, help reunite them with their families and provide rehabilitation and reintegration assistance.

Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said the country was seeking to highlight human rights violations linked to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. He said many Ukrainian children remain in Russia after being unlawfully deported or forcibly transferred there.

Norway has allocated 15 million Norwegian crowns, around 1.6 million dollars, to UNICEF programmes supporting the reintegration of children who have returned to Ukraine and efforts to trace children who remain missing.

A further 10 million Norwegian crowns will go to the Central Tracing Agency Bureau of the International Committee of the Red Cross to support tracing and related humanitarian work.

Canada is hosting a ministerial conference on the issue in Toronto this week, with Norway and Ukraine serving as co hosts.