Crimes against humanity: UN report describes the scale of child trafficking from Ukraine

The UN International Commission of Inquiry has concluded that the removal of Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories by Russia is a crime against humanity. In addition, the commission considers the delay in their return to Ukraine a war crime.

This is stated in the commission's new report, which summarizes the results of investigations over the past year.

Investigators examined the facts of the deportation of 1205 children from five Ukrainian regions and confirmed that these actions were organized at the highest level of the Russian government. The commission found that the children were placed in families in 21 regions of Russia, often with Russian citizenship and concealing information about their whereabouts from their parents.

The document states that the materials collected made it possible to establish that the Russian authorities are involved in the deportation, forced displacement and enforced disappearance of children. The Commission also confirmed its previous conclusion that the illegal removal and transfer of children constitutes a war crime, as does the unreasonable delay in their return to Ukraine.

The report also states that the Russian authorities systematically fail to disclose information about the whereabouts of children. Some of them are placed in children's institutions or transferred to foster families, and in some cases, adopted by Russian families, even if the children have relatives in Ukraine. The Commission considers such actions to be another crime against humanity - the enforced disappearance of children.

Despite the efforts of Ukraine and intermediary countries, the process of returning children has been delayed for years. The commission notes that instead of creating an effective repatriation mechanism, the Russian authorities are actually placing Ukrainian children in families or institutions in Russia for a long time. In addition, they are granted Russian citizenship and added to adoption databases.

The Russian authorities deny the accusations of deportation and claim that the children were allegedly "evacuated" from the war zone. At the same time, the UN Commission emphasizes that even if evacuation is allowed during war, it should be temporary, and children should be returned to their country of origin as soon as possible.

The document also emphasizes that these actions are systemic and part of a broader coordinated policy. According to the Commission, Russian officials at various levels, including the President of Russia, are responsible for this policy.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for the Russian President and the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights. They are suspected of war crimes related to the forced deportation and displacement of people, including children, from the occupied territories of Ukraine.

According to Ukraine's official data, since the beginning of the full-scale war, more than 20,000 Ukrainian children have been held in Russia and the occupied territories. At the same time, the Verkhovna Rada Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets suggests that Russia has illegally taken about 150,000 minors, while the Commissioner for Children's Rights Daria Gerasymchuk has put the number at several hundred thousand, approximately 200-300,000.

Анна Бальчінос