Ukraine : UN ASG for Human Rights Tells Security Council that Russian Forces Transferring Ukrainian Children to Various Parts of Russia : Al Jazeera / Tom McDermott

Recent press reports indicate that Russian forces have continued to transfer children - both orphans and those with families - for resettlement in Russia.  Some 1,800 Ukrainian children were transferred to Russia in July alone.  UNICEF has remained surprisingly silent so far despite recent statements by  Russian officials confirming the transfer of children from recently occupied parts of Ukraine and their settlement with  Russian families across Russia. 

Earlier this year UNICEF did speak out.  In June Afshan Khan, RD for  Europe and Central Asia said, "Ukrainian children should not be adopted in Russia, where several thousand young people are believed to have been moved since Moscow's February invasion. We're reiterating, including to the Russian Federation, that adoption should never occur during or immediately after emergencies," This followed a joint statement by Catherine Russell and Filippo Grandi in March stating that, "Adoption should not occur during or immediately after emergencies. Every effort should be made to reunify children with their families when possible, if such reunification is in their best interest."

On Wednesday Ilze Brands Kehris, ASG for Human Rights in OHCHR told the Security Council of credible reports that Russian forces have sent Ukrainian children to Russia for adoption as part of a larger-scale forced relocation and deportation programme.   “We are concerned that the Russian authorities have adopted a simplified procedure to grant Russian citizenship to children without parental care, and that these children would be eligible for adoption by Russian families,” she said.  

Ilze Brands Kehris

According to Brands Kehris, Russian forces are also running “filtration” operations in which Ukrainians in occupied territories face systematic security checks that have involved “numerous” human rights violations. The filtration procedures of Ukrainian adults judged as close to the Ukraine government or military have involved torture and the forcible removal and transfer to Russian penal colonies and other detention centres, Kehris said.

“In cases that our office has documented, during ‘filtration,’ Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups have subjected persons to body searches, sometimes involving forced nudity, and detailed interrogations about the personal background, family ties, political views and allegiances of the individual concerned,” she said.

“We are particularly concerned that women and girls are at risk of sexual abuse during ‘filtration’ procedures.”

There are numerous reports in the Russian press of groups of Ukrainian children arriving in cities across Russia.  These include groups of children being resettled in the far eastern parts of Russia, such as Murmansk.

Maria Lvova-Belova

What better source of confirmation than Russia's Commissioner for Child Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, who told reporters that, "All the children who were brought in have already received Russian citizenship and are being settled under Russian law,"  Ms. Lvova-Belova went on to say, "When we brought them to the Moscow region, so they could get their strength back, at first they were negative about the president and said nasty things.  They sang the Ukrainian anthem and that sort of thing...but later, that negative attitude turned into love for Russia."

See also: Al Jazeera report    UPI report