UN commission recognises Russia’s deportation of Ukrainian children as crime against humanity
The UN International Commission has called Russia's deportation, illegal transfer, and enforced disappearance of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine a crime against humanity, as well as a war crime for delaying the repatriation of these children to Ukraine.
According to Censor.NET, citing Radio Liberty, this information was reported to the Nastoyashchee Vremya channel by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on violations committed during the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Report on the results of the investigation for the past year
The Commission has also published a new report detailing the results of its investigations over the past year.
"The evidence gathered allows the Commission to conclude that the Russian authorities committed crimes against humanity, such as deportation and forcible transfer, as well as enforced disappearance of children. The Commission also confirms its previous conclusion that the Russian authorities illegally deported and displaced children, which is a war crime, and unjustifiably delayed their repatriation, which is also a war crime," the document says.
The commission also determined that Russia's actions regarding deported or displaced children violated international humanitarian law and international human rights law and were not justified by the best interests of the child.
The commission's report states that the Russian authorities deliberately and systematically withhold information about the whereabouts of children, distribute them to orphanages, place them with foster families, and in some cases have them adopted by Russian families, despite the fact that they have relatives in Ukraine. The commission believes that this amounts to another crime against humanity—the forced disappearance of children.
The process of repatriating children
At the same time, despite the efforts of Ukraine and intermediary states, the process of repatriating children is dragging on for years.
Instead of establishing a functional system for returning children to their homeland, the Russian authorities "focused on the long-term placement of children in families or institutions in the Russian Federation." The Commission also notes that deported and displaced Ukrainian children are granted Russian citizenship and placed on adoption portals.
The Russian authorities reject accusations of deportation and claim that they "evacuated" the children from the fighting. The UN commission says that evacuation is permissible during war, but it must be temporary and the children must be returned to their homeland as soon as possible.
The report also states that these actions are systematic in nature, part of a broader coordinated policy, and that responsibility for them lies with Russian officials at all levels, including Vladimir Putin.
Russia's abduction of Ukrainian children
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that 2,000 children who had been illegally held under Russian control had been returned home. The return took place as part of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative with the participation of state structures, public organizations, and international partners.
According to official Ukrainian data, more than 20,000 Ukrainian children ended up in Russia and the occupied territories during the full-scale war. At the same time, the Verkhovna Rada's Human Rights Commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, suggested that Russia had illegally taken about 150,000 children from Ukraine, while the Verkhovna Rada's Children's Rights Commissioner, Daria Gerasymchuk, put the figure at "several hundred thousand children, i.e. somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000."
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children's Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. They are suspected of committing war crimes – violent deportations and displacement of the population, including children, from the occupied territories of Ukraine.
In July 2023, Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova stated that since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia had "accepted" about 4.8 million Ukrainian residents, including more than 700,000 children. According to her, most Ukrainian children allegedly came to Russia with their parents or other relatives.
