There are several countries to boycott, this Wednesday, the first meeting of the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) chaired by Russia.
In an afternoon of work dedicated to the issue of children in conflict zones, the Moscow representation chose as speaker the Presidential Commissioner for the Rights of the Child, Maria Lvova-Belova, who is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the Court International Criminal (ICC).
The United States of America and the United Kingdom decided not to send diplomats to the meeting and have already blocked the transmission of the Security Council meeting until they have a guarantee that Belova does not intervene, justifying the decision with the refusal to spread “Russian propaganda”. “.
“If he wants to be held accountable for his actions, let him do so in The Hague,” the ICC headquarters, a spokesman for the British mission was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The meeting aims to “provide objective information on the situation of children in the Donbass conflict zone and on the measures taken by the Russian authorities to remove children in danger,” according to the Russian permanent representation, which accuses the West to “distort” the situation using the terms “kidnappings, forced displacements, adoptions”.
Ukrainian authorities accuse Russia of having “kidnapped” more than 16,000 children from Ukraine since the start of the offensive a year ago, and the ICC issued a landmark arrest warrant in March for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, calling them the responsible for the “war crime of illegal deportation” of Ukrainian minors.
The Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, recently assured that today’s meeting was planned “long before” the ICC announcement.
Moscow claims to have “saved” these children from the fighting and has put in place procedures to reunite them with their families.
At a press conference held on Tuesday, the Russian Commissioner for Children expressed her willingness to return the deported children to Ukraine, if their families so request.
Maria Lvova-Belova assured that she was not contacted by “any representative of the Ukrainian power” regarding the children deported since the beginning of the war and invited their parents to write her an email.
“Write to me (…) to find your son,” said the Russian official.
In turn, the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday demanded that Russia authorize international organizations to visit children and other civilians “forcibly deported” from Ukraine to territories controlled by Moscow.
“[A Rússia tem de] end the forced and illegal transfers and deportations of civilians and other protected persons within Ukraine [para o leste] or for the Russian Federation (…), in particular children, including those institutionalized, unaccompanied and/or separated”, reads a resolution approved in Geneva with 28 votes in favor, 17 abstentions and two votes against (China and Eritrea).
Source: TSF
