The European Court will hear a case involving 10 children who went missing after the occupation of Crimea

On September 22, the European Court of Human Rights will hold public hearings in a case involving 10 Ukrainian children who were held in children’s institutions in occupied Crimea following Russia’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014. The case was filed by the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union.

This was reported by the European Court of Human Rights.

According to the applicants, after Russia established de facto control over Crimea, the children may have been forced to accept Russian citizenship and were subsequently transferred to the Russian adoption system or placed with foster families.

The ECHR notes that since 2014, there has been no information on the whereabouts of these children, despite repeated requests from Ukrainian authorities. The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union believes that the circumstances may indicate the de facto forced disappearance of the children.

The applicants also assert that the change in citizenship and the posting of information about the children in adoption systems violated their right to respect for private and family life, as well as their right to liberty and security of person.

A public hearing in the case “Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union on behalf of ten Ukrainian children v. Russia” (No. 6719/23) will take place in Strasbourg on September 22 at 9:15 a.m.

The court will rule on the admissibility and merits of the case at a later date.

AsIntent previously reported, Yale University published a study on the involvement of the Russian state-owned companies Gazprom and Rosneft in the deportation and “re-education” of Ukrainian children.

As a reminder, aUNinternational commission concluded that Russia’s removal of Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories constitutes a crime against humanity. Furthermore, the commission considers the delay in their return to Ukraine to be a war crime. 

Андрій Колісніченко