The occupiers are taking away Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories in violation of all norms of international law, according to a study by the Yale School of Public Health.
According to researchers, more than 6,000 children aged from four months to 17 years have passed through Russian camps and other institutions (boarding houses, boarding schools) that are engaged in the “re-education” of Ukrainians. At the same time, it is stated that this number is much higher and it is only about detected cases.
In total, there are at least 43 institutions in the Russian Federation that keep our children. The geography of the camps extends from the Crimea to Moscow and Siberia. The most remote camp found by the investigation is located in the Magadan region in the Far East of Russia. The main goal of the camps is political re-education. Children are exposed to scientific, cultural, patriotic and/or military education focused on Russia. This is presented in the Russian Federation as an “integration program”.
Consent to deportation is coerced and routinely violated: consent obtained from parents for their child to attend the camp in some cases involved signing a power of attorney to an unnamed agent.
Other parents claim that specific elements of the consent they gave were breached, such as the length of stay and procedures for reunification with their children. In 10% of the camps, the return of children to Ukraine was suspended. In two camps, “Artek” and “Medvezhonok”, the return of children has been suspended indefinitely.
Maria Lvova-Belova, the representative of the president on children’s rights in the Russian Federation, is responsible for the abduction of children at the federal level. On January 7, 2023, the leader of the occupiers, Putin, instructed Commissioner Lvova-Belova to “take additional measures to identify minors” living on the TOT.
It is noted that the Security Council of the United Nations (UNSC) adopted the Resolution in 1999. It details six gross violations against children during the armed conflict. In particular, the abduction of children by both state and non-state actors during wartime is a gross violation.
It should be noted that the abduction of children to destroy their self-identity is one of the signs of the Genocide of a nation, according to the Rome Statute. It is also worth reminding that the National Resistance Center emphasizes the role in the crime of imported doctors who carry out forced honey-eating of Ukrainian children, and this then becomes the “reason” for sending children and putting pressure on their parents.
