Several thousand Ukrainian children have been transferred to Russia. Among them, just over 300 would have returned to Ukraine.
“A horrifying reminder of the darkest times in our history.” The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Friday March 24 condemned the kidnappings of children in Ukraine by Russia since the start of the conflict. She also announced the organization of a conference by the European Union, Poland and Ukraine to “that all measures be taken” in order to find the deported children and bring them back to their country. However, the European official did not give any details on the date or location of this event.
>> War in Ukraine: the deportation of Ukrainian children, the Kremlin’s weapon of massive “Russification”
Here’s what we know about what “constitutes a war crime”, for the UN. A crime for which Vladimir Putin is being prosecuted and is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
Transfers contrary to international law
Since the outbreak of hostilities in February 2022, Russian authorities have been deporting Ukrainian children from areas they control in Ukraine to Russia. And this, while international law prohibits the evacuation of children during armed conflicts, with very rare exceptions related to their health or safety, recalls the UN Commission of Inquiry into the conflict, in a report (PDF, in English) published mid-March. “In the situations that the Commission has examined, no transfer of a child appears to have satisfied the requirements of international humanitarian law”she says.
The UN reports several situations in which these transfers take place. When “children lost their parents or temporarily lost contact with them during the hostilities”. When the minors “were separated at a screening point following the detention of a relative”. Or when the Russian army takes control of an area where children are “placed in institutions”. Finally, children from the territories that came under Russian control in the regions of Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhya “have traveled temporarily, with the consent of their parents, to join “holiday camps in Crimea or in the Russian Federation”writes the UN Commission of Inquiry.
The deportations took place at least from the regions of Donetsk, Kherson and Kharkiv, according to the Commission, which studied the cases of 164 children from these territories. Of the “minors were taken to at least 57 regions of Russia”specifies for her part the Ukrainian lawyer Ekaterina Rashevskaya, questioned at the end of December by the media Hromadkse (in Russian).
Several thousand minors concerned
How many children have been deported in this way? Hard to know. In mid-November, Moscow affirmed, according to Russian news agency Interfaxthat more than 4.7 million refugees, of whom approximately 712 000 children, had entered its territory “via checkpoints” since the start of the war. Always according to InterfaxUkraine evoked in the spring 240,000 minors deported to Russia, without specifying whether they were accompanied by a parent. For its part, the Ukrainian National Information Bureau lists 16,200 children deported to Russia until the end of February, for which he claims to have data confirmed by the team of the Attorney General or the Ministry of the Interior.
The American NGO Conflict Observatory lists for its part “6,000 children” deported, according to a report (PDF, in English) published with the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, in February. And the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) mentions, in its own report published in March, a transfer of “several thousands of children”of which “over 4,500” young Ukrainians who were placed in orphanages before the war. The United Nations Commission of Inquiry acknowledges that it was unable to verify the figures put forward by the Ukrainian authorities.
Doubtful reception conditions
Between Crimea and Russia, “43 detention centers” are responsible for welcoming Ukrainian children, believe the Yale Humanitarian Research Laboratory and the NGO Conflict Obervatory. “Most are recreational camps where children are taken for so-called vacations, while others are facilities used to house foster or adopted children,” detail this report. They are subject to a “re-education” aimed at making “their more pro-Russian personal and political beliefs”which may include military training.
Communication between detained children and parents is very rare. “Some parents have been ordered not to provide cell phones to their children”details the Yale and Conflict Observatory report.
The parents of the children taken on “vacation” also told the UN commission that “in some places of transfer, the children were wearing dirty clothes, they were shouted at and insulted. The meals were mediocre and some children with disabilities did not receive the necessary care and medication”.
Deportations that aim at the “Russification” of children
According to Ukrainian lawyer Ekaterina Rashevskaya, minors who join “centers for the promotion of family education” can then be added to the federal adoption bank (in Russian)an online platform that makes the data of these minors available to the public (age, particularities, etc.). But the law in principle prohibits Russians from adopting foreign children. Vladimir Putin therefore signed a decree (in Russian), on May 30, providing for a simplified naturalization procedure for Ukrainian orphans and children deprived of parental care. A distorted process, since“it does not appear that the Russian authorities have sought to establish contact with the parents of the children or with the Ukrainian authorities”says the report of the UN commission.
Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, then hinted on Telegram (in Russian) that the presence of these children in Russia would be permanent. “Now that they have become Russian citizens, the temporary guardianship can become permanent”she assured in July. In December, at least “400 children” had been adopted by Russian families, according to the HRW report, whose count is based on statements by Russian officials.
This hastily pursued naturalization policy is one of the tools used by Russia in its “coordinated effort to absorb [ces mineurs] in Russian society”denounces Amnesty International in a report (PDF) published in November.
Returns to Ukraine drop by drop
Among the deported children, only 308 returned to Ukraine, reported the Interfax agency on March 21, quoting the Ukrainian National Information Bureau. Parents of children who had been sent on “vacation” to Crimea or Russia told the United Nations Commission of Inquiry that, “when these areas returned to the control of the Ukrainian government, the Russian authorities demanded that the parents or legal guardians travel in person to pick up their children”. This approach “involved long and complicated travel, as well as security risks. So not all parents were able to do so, which led to prolonged or even indefinite family separations”.