Thousands of Ukrainian children living in orphanages have been forcibly transferred to Russia or occupied territories and many are on lists of “sites” for adoption, Human Rights Watch denounced this Monday.
The human rights organization, which released a report entitled “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).
The organization says this based on data from the Ukrainian government 100 institutions that housed more than 32,000 children before 2022 are now located in regions partially or fully occupied by Russia or annexed by Moscow.
Statements by Russian officials, activists and Ukrainian lawyers, as well as press releases, show that at least several thousand children were forcibly transferred to occupied territories or to Russia,” HRW said, recalling that in May 2022 the Russian parliament passed 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 that hundreds of Ukrainian children have been adopted.
This is happening “despite international norms that prohibit intercountry adoption during armed conflict”, underlined the HRW.
That is why he appealed to the organization”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.”
Ukraine: war dangers for children in institutions https://t.co/AakWhfM931
– Human Rights Watch (@hrw) March 13, 2023
“The war in Ukraine had a devastating impact on children held in residential institutions” such as orphanages, HRW added, warning that “many children were forcibly transferred to Russia and separated from their families, under traumatic experiences of war and displacement” .
Before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine had the highest number of children in institutions in Europe, more than 105,000 minors, according to government data.
The UN agency for children, UNICEF, added that nearly half are children with disabilities.
“A coordinated international effort is needed to identify and return children deported to Russia”
More than 9 out of 10 of these children who were in institutions in Ukraine have parents with full rightsrefers to HRW.
“They were admitted because of their family’s poverty or difficult living conditions or because the child has a disability and institutions were suggested as the best option,” the organization explains.
“In reality, as the Ukrainian authorities have recognized and as decades of studies show, institutions are inherently harmful to children. Human rights law requires the deinstitutionalization of all children, including during armed conflict.”
Ukraine, with international support, must “urgently map the whereabouts of all institutionalized children and ensure their well-being,” HRW urged.
While most 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 in unknown whereabouts,” he stressed.
“Russia is responsible for the crisis these children face [transferidas]but the war heightens the urgency for Ukraine, with the support of foreign governments and humanitarian organizations, to stop detention of children and expand family and community care.”
“Ukrainian children who were placed in Soviet-era institutions are now at extreme risk due to the Russian war in Ukraine,” warned one of the directors of the organization’s children’s rights unit, Bill Van Esveld, quoted in the report.
“A coordinated international effort is needed to identify and return deported children to Russia, but Ukraine and its allies must ensure that all children who are or remain in institutions are identified and supported to return to their families and in future communities,” he concluded.
Source: DN
