Thousands of Ukrainian children who lived in orphanages were forcibly transferred to Russia or the occupied territories and many are on lists of ‘places’ for adoption, Human Rights Watch denounced.
The human rights organization, which on Monday released a report titled “We must provide a family, not rebuild orphanages,” presents documented cases of forced transfers of children from Ukrainian institutions to Russia or Russian-occupied territories.
“A war crime,” says Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Based on Ukrainian government data, the organization says that 100 institutions that housed more than 32,000 children before 2022 are now in regions under partial or full occupation by Russia or declared annexed by Moscow.
“Statements by Russian authorities, Ukrainian activists and lawyers, as well as reports published by the press, indicate that at least several thousand children were forcibly transferred to occupied territories or to Russia,” HRW said, recalling that the Russian parliament approved, in May 2022, legislation allowing authorities to grant Russian nationality to Ukrainian children, facilitating their custody and adoption by families in Russia.
In addition, the organization said, at least one Russian adoption website features children from Ukrainian regions, and Russian authorities have admitted hundreds of Ukrainian children were adopted.
This happens “despite international norms that prohibit intercountry adoption during armed conflict,” HRW stressed.
Therefore, the organization appealed, “Russia must allow access to the United Nations and other impartial agencies to identify these children, monitor their well-being and facilitate their return to Ukraine.”
“The war in Ukraine had devastating consequences for children in residential institutions” such as orphanages, HRW added, warning that “many children were forcibly transferred to Russia and separated from their families, suffering traumatic experiences of war and displacement. “.
Ukraine had, before the Russian invasion, the largest number of children in institutions in Europe, exceeding, according to government data, 105,000 minors.
The UN agency dedicated to children, Unicef, added that almost half were children with disabilities.
More than 9 out of 10 of these children who were in institutions in Ukraine have full-fledged parents, says HRW.
“They were institutionalized because of the poverty of their families or because of difficult life circumstances or because the child has a disability and the institutions were presented as the best option,” the organization explains.
“In reality, as Ukrainian authorities have recognized and as decades of studies show, institutions are inherently harmful to children. Human rights laws require the deinstitutionalization of all children, including during armed conflict.”
Ukraine must, with international support, “urgently map the whereabouts of all institutionalized children and ensure their well-being,” HRW urged.
Although most of the children in institutions were sent home and to their families when the Russian attacks began, “thousands were taken to other institutions and many others are missing,” he stressed.
“Russia is responsible for the crisis these children are facing. [transferidas]But the war increases the urgency for Ukraine, with the support of foreign governments and humanitarian agencies, to stop institutionalizing children and expand family and community care.”
“Ukrainian children who were housed in Soviet-era institutions now face extreme risks due to Russia’s war in Ukraine,” warned one of the directors of the organization’s children’s rights unit, Bill Van Esveld, quoted in the report. report.
“There must be a coordinated international effort to identify and return children deported to Russia, but Ukraine and its allies must ensure that all children who have been or remain in institutions are identified and supported to return to live with their families and in the communities”, he concluded.
Source: TSF
