Stolen Identities: Russia Alters Data of Abducted Crimean Children

The European Court of Human Rights held oral hearings in the case of ten Ukrainian children whom Russia, following the occupation of Crimea, cut off from contact with Ukraine and took to its territory. The Ukrainian side stated that this constitutes a systematic practice aimed at altering the identity of Ukrainian children.

This was reported by Margarita Sokorenko, the commissioner for the European Court of Human Rights. 

The case involved ten Ukrainian children who, in 2014, were in state care at children’s institutions in occupied Crimea. Following the occupation of the peninsula, according to the Ukrainian side, Russia imposed its citizenship on them, entered their data into Russian adoption databases, and removed them from Crimea.

The children’s whereabouts currently remain unknown. According to Sokorenko, the Russian side did not provide any information about their whereabouts. The Ukrainian position was based, in particular, on the fact that the circumstances of this case are linked to a broader pattern of violations of the rights of Ukrainian children following the occupation of Crimea and the start of Russian aggression.

There were also cases of changes to the children’s personal data, including their names and dates of birth, which makes it difficult to establish their Ukrainian origin.

Sokorenko noted that Russia possesses information about the children’s whereabouts but is not disclosing it. 

Sokorenko stated that Russia’s policy toward Ukrainian children also included indoctrination and militarization, and she described its long-term goal as the destruction of Ukrainian identity and the children’s ties to Ukraine.

After the oral hearings concluded, the ECHR retired to the deliberation room. The court is expected to issue a ruling on the case at a later date.

Sokorenko also noted that the Ukrainian government continues to participate in other cases against Russia before the ECHR. According to her, the court has already communicated with and is reviewing hundreds of applications in which Ukraine acts as a third party and presents its position on systemic human rights violations by the aggressor country.

In late August, Ukrainian law enforcement identified four officials involved in the illegal deportation of 53 Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied cities of Donetsk and Makiivka to Russia.

Анна Літман