Our Advocacy Committee continues its work to support H. Res 149 – Condemning the illegal abduction of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation. The initiative, called “Return Ukraine’s Children” aims to find congressional co-sponsors for two bills.  Please reach out to your congressperson’s legislative aide and ask for co-sponsorship.  Our guide features sample appeal letters for emails below.

For more information, please check out the: State Department Briefing & Yale Conflict Lab Report

UN Sessions “Gross Human Rights Violations due to the Aggression Against Ukraine”:

Session 1, Session 2

How to Contact Your Elected Official:

  1. Go to Govtrack.us and input your address.  This will give you the names and phone numbers to your two senators and your one house rep.
  2. Call your 2 Senators and 1 House Rep.

Congressional Phone Call Breakdown:

    1. Introduce yourself – Say you are a constituent, include your zip code, & why you are calling
  • Hello, my name is Lesia Ukrainka.   I am the senator’s constituent from Springfield, 12345, and I’m calling to urge his/her support for a few key issues.  
    1. Ask to speak with the Legislative Aid – if they are busy, that’s ok.  You can leave your message with the receptionist.   Make sure to get the Legislative Aide’s email information for future use. 
    2. If you are connected to the Leg. Aide – make sure to re-Introduce yourself again before launching into your requests. 
  • Requests/Talking points
      1. Introduction, Background & Thank You
        1. Re-state you are a constituent and articulate your connection to this issue.  (It’s ok if you are just a concerned citizen without a connection)
        2. Thank the Politician for their support of Ukraine last year (Ukraine Vote Tracker) & for any recent gestures of solidarity.
  • My name is Lesia Ukrainka, I am a constituent from Springfield 12345, a Ukrainian-American/ concerned citizen/ Veteran & a member of the UNWLA.   I am so grateful for everything that the Senator has done to support Ukraine and really appreciated seeing his recent visit to Kyiv…
      1. Specific Requests
        1. For Senate:
  • I’m asking for the Senator’s support on S. 416, the HARM act.   
        1. For House
  • I’m asking for the Congressman/ Congresswoman’s support on H. Res 149 – Condemning the Abduction of Ukrainian Children &  HR 506 – The HARM act.
      1. Why
        1. Briefly highlight any reasons that this is important.  This can provide context but it is not necessary.
  • Wagner is a terrorist organization by any definition of the word, they systematically violate civilian human rights around the world … and Russia has kidnapped at least 6000 Ukrainian children for re-education and adoption, this is a violation of the Geneva conventions. 
  • Thank the staffer for their time & ask for email so that you can follow up.
  • Follow up a few days later via email directly to legislative staffer to see if you can provide them with additional information.
  1. If you can only call after business hours, that’s ok.   The staff checks the voicemail daily and they tally the voicemails the same way as calls.  If you leave a voicemail, please make sure to leave your FULL ADDRESS.

Email The Legislative Aide

If you have a relationship already set with the legislative aide, then email them directly to their email with your request.  Make sure to follow up with a phone call a few days later.

Over time, each branch/RC should be developing working relationships with their elected official’s legislative aide, local scheduler & district chief of staff.  

Sample Letters:

Congressional Letter

Dear X (Legislative Aide) –  

If you are writing to your legislator, then the correct title is, “Honorable Congresswoman X)”

I am writing to request the congresswoman’s co-sponsorship of two key Ukraine-focused legislations:  H.R. 506, the Holding Accountable Russian Mercenaries (HARM) Act & H.Res 149, Condemning the illegal abduction of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation. 

The HARM act (H.R. 506) would require the Secretary of State to designate the Russian-based PMC Wagner Group as a foreign terrorist organization.  The Wagner Group is a mercenary organization that does the bidding of the Russian Government.  The organization’s trail of well-documented atrocities – including civilian massacres, torture, rape, and execution – spans at least four continents and multiple countries such as, Syria, Venezuela, Mali, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Libya, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, South Africa, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Guinea, and Ukraine. In many cases, their terror is followed by mineral exploitation that benefits their sponsors.  This group has committed deplorable terrorist actions that meet the required criteria designated in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and the Foreign Relations 

Authorization Act.  They must be stopped to protect human rights and the security of the United States and our allies around the world.

H.Res 149,  condemns the shocking abduction of Ukraine’s children by Russia.   The Yale conflict lab, in partnership with the State Department recently released a report documenting Russia’s systemic efforts to abduct thousands of Ukrainian children.  At least 6,000 Ukrainian children have been separated from their families or stolen from Ukrainian orphanages.  They are shipped through filtration camps in russia for re-education, some are placed with russian adoptive families and while others forced into military training.  Each step of this well-organized kidnapping system is a breach of the Geneva Convention.  It is imperative that Congress recognizes and condemns this blatant attempt to erase Ukraine’s future.  

Thank you for your time, please let me know if I can provide any additional information about these issues or your Ukrainian-American constituency. 

Respectfully,

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Senate Letter

Dear X (Legislative Aide): 

If you are writing to your legislator, then the correct title is, “Honorable Senator X)” 

I am writing to ask that you co-sponsor S. 416, the Holding Accountable Russian Mercenaries (HARM) Act, bipartisan legislation that would require the Secretary of State to designate the Russian-based PMC Wagner Group as a foreign terrorist organization.

The Wagner Group is a mercenary organization that does the bidding of the Russian Government.  The organization’s trail of well-documented atrocities – including civilian massacres, torture, rape, and execution – spans at least four continents and multiple countries such as, Syria, Venezuela, Mali, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Libya, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, South Africa, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Guinea, and Ukraine. In many cases, their terror is followed by mineral exploitation that benefits their sponsors and may currently be subsidizing their war in Ukraine. .  

This group has committed deplorable terrorist actions that meet the required criteria designated in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and the Foreign Relations 

Authorization Act.  They must be stopped to protect human rights and the security of the United States and our allies around the world.

Thank you for your time, please let me know if I can provide any additional information about these issues or your Ukrainian-American constituency. 

Respectfully,

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ADDRESS

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