The transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia aims to instill a pro-Moscow outlook and even military training, according to a report that estimates that more than 6,000 children are being placed in 43 re-education camps or orphanages.
According to the report Russia’s Systematic Program for the Re-education and Adoption of Children from Ukraine, released in February by the Humanitarian Research Laboratory at the Yale School of Public Health (HRL), the study introduces “evidence pointing to potential violations of international law” and findings that most of the camps are involved “in pro-Russian re-education efforts” and some have even provided “military training for children”, or delayed delivery to their parents in Ukraine.
Produced as part of the Conflict Observatory, the report states, some of the centers are pre-existing summer camps along the Black Sea, in annexed Crimea and mainland Russia, including Moscow, eleven of which are more than 500 miles from the border with Russia . Ukraine, two in faraway Siberia and one in the far east of the country.
“The primary purpose of the camps appears to be political re-education,” with at least 32 (78%) of the camps using “systematic re-education efforts that expose children of Ukraine to academic, cultural, patriotic, and cultural activities directed toward Russia and/or or military training”, with a view to its integration into the Russian government’s vision of national culture, history and society.
Yale HRL identified at least two camps that allegedly housed orphans who were later placed with foster homes in Russia. Twenty children were delivered to families in Moscow province and enrolled in local schools.
In the report, a key word is the coercion of the parents to hand over the children, including signatures by proxy, in other cases there were allegations of violation of residence periods and procedures for reunification with the children, and parents’ refusals were basically ignored .
“In many cases, the parent’s ability to give meaningful consent may be questioned as conditions of war and the implied threat of the occupation forces constitute conditions of coercion,” the document points out.
The return of children from at least four camps has been suspended or they will be detained after the scheduled date, the document continues, with parents also describing that they were unable to obtain information about their children’s status or whereabouts.
Despite pointing to 6,000 children transferred, the report admits the number could be much higher, and it is uncertain how many were returned, in an operation that began shortly after the invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last year, which saw “all levels of the government of Russia are involved” and coordinated centrally by Moscow.
To reach these conclusions, Yale HRL used aggregation and cross-checking from multiple sources to understand the system of relocations, centers, re-education, adoptions, and foster homes, including social media, government advertising and publications, and on-site reporting, in in addition to geolocation of facilities through photos, videos and descriptions of Ukrainian children on site and their experiences, as well as their parents, as well as high-resolution satellite images.
In addition to the transfer and establishment of re-education centers, Ukrainian children are also beginning to be part of Russian propaganda.
At a recent gathering to celebrate the army at a stadium in Moscow, a 13-year-old Ukrainian child, who lived in Mariupol, a city taken by Russian troops about a year ago, appeared on stage in tears to thank you for being saved by the occupier. .
The CNN International station wanted to know more about the story of Anna Naumenko, or simply Anya, who lost her mother during the siege of Mariupol, talking to a friend, with whom she spent three months in an underground bomb shelter and who wonders the safety conditions she will live in, after being transferred to foster care, suggesting she was a victim of coercion.
“I was afraid to see that. They can’t use children like that,” says Katerina Pustovit, who now lives in Germany. Anya’s family declined to comment for fear, and Moscow officials did not respond to CNN’s questions.
Source: DN
