Criminal abduction of Ukrainian children by Russian authorities

Report by Victor S Ient

The image above is from the Children of War web site.

Do you have young children or young grandchildren? How would you feel about your children being abducted, or your children or grandchildren being taken away by a foreign power, so that you might never see them again?  If this happened in England or in almost any country around the world, there would be uproar. This is exactly what is going on right now in Ukraine. Putin and his Russian authorities are stealing children from Ukraine, taking them away, and indoctrinating them against Ukraine. Ukrainian families may never see them again.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine: Criminal abduction of Ukrainian children by Russian authorities! There are different estimates of the numbers, but we’re talking thousands of children. Wikipedia puts the number at 20,000.  The Guardian puts the figure of abducted children at a much higher level saying as many as 35,000 Ukrainian children are still missing and thought to be held in Russia or Russian-occupied territories.  Whatever the level of abductions it’s very clear that this practice of stealing children is a widespread practice by the Russian authorities. Putin’s evil practice must be stopped.  We must do what we can to bring pressure on the Russian authorities despite President Trump’s lack of action on the matter. I believe the taking of children is partly designed to undermine the morale of Ukraine. In international law the abduction of children is a crime. Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, children are recognized as protected persons and are considered an “object of special respect” under Article 77 of Additional Protocol I of 1977.

o you agree with me? What action should be taken?  Write to your MP, your MEP or your US Senator. Please comment on this post.

Please check out this article as below:

Take Action!

Whilst I understand the plight of children around the world is desperate where they are suffering from the conflict of war, I feel that this issue has got to be raised to the top of the agenda of the UK Government as well as amongst Britain’s allies and around Europe . I have written to my MP here in the UK. Please write to your MP. Find your MP by clicking HERE.

If you are in the European Union, please write to your MEP. Click HERE for the link. If you are in the USA write to your senator by clicking HERE.

Thank you

The BBC reveal the horrifying practice

I was horrified to hear that the abduction and indoctrination of children is widespread by Russian authorities when I listened to the BBC PM programme recently.  In the PM program of 21st August Evan Davis reported on this issue saying the fate of Ukrainian children taken by Russian forces into Russia has been overlooked.  The BBC interviewed Kateryna Rashevska, a legal expert at the Regional Center for Human Rights in Kiev. She’s been putting together evidence on illegal deportation of children. In the interview it became clear that children have been taken, for example, from hospitals in Mariupol which is now under Russian control whilst other children were taken from streets in conflict areas and bussed into Russia. They are now being dispersed across the whole of Russia. Katarina Rojewska has been working with different teams about trying to get some of these children back. Some 600 children have been returned. They give alarming accounts of being told that “there is no such a place as Ukraine”, that “they are really Russian children”, “that they should speak Russian”, and given a rather distorted story as to the history of their nation. Kateryna Rashevska said this affects the child’s development and their sense of identity. The abductors disparage Ukrainian families and people. It has a long-term impact. But separation in itself can have devastating effects. When you meet those children, when you sit down and really talk with them, the trauma is clear. They’re having to find their way again.

The UK Government doesn’t appear to be putting any pressure on Putin

Claire Tyler, Baroness Tyler of Enfield (Lib Dem) raised the matter this year (18th June) in the House of Lords asking what steps the Government are taking to support the safe return of abducted Ukrainian children forcibly removed to Russia and Belarus.  In her reply the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Baroness Chapman of Darlington, (Lab) accepted that the taking of children is a crime. She said, “Children should never be pawns of war, but this is happening”. She added “It is the not knowing, I think, that adds to the pain and torture of the families. Some of these children are now becoming adults and are being required to serve in the armed forces. This is abhorrent, and we will continue to raise this”. See: Abducted Ukrainian Children – Hansard

In my view, although this is a sympathetic view from the UK Government, it’s not enough. More pressure must be put on Putin and the Russian authorities to return the children and cease the illegal practice altogether.

Feeling of hopelessness

Sadly though there is a depressive air of defeat regarding the possibility of getting the children back,  An expert is quoted in the Guardian recently (27th June) saying ‘Basically impossible to get them back’ – Russia’s mass abduction of Ukrainian children is a war crime.  They quote Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab (which has now been closed down by President Trump), saying “This is likely the largest child abduction in war since WWII – comparable to the Germanification of Polish children by the Nazis.” The article reports testimonies of recently rescued children which reveals that some older children undergo military training at the camps whilst being punished for speaking Ukrainian. “We had to sing the Russian anthem and draw the tricolour,” says one rescued nine-year-old.

Proof that abduction is going on

Here are a few example of proof about this war crime:

  • In December last year Amnesty International reported on the horrors of child indoctrination saying children under Russian occupation forced into Russian schooling or face removal to orphanages In their press release Anna Wright, Amnesty International researcher for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said: “In the Russian-occupied territories, intimidation and coercion are a daily reality for families, children and teaching staff”.
  • In a report to the European Parliament earlier this year it was stated that Russia forcibly displaced Ukrainian children to Russia.
  • In March of this year the Institute for the Study of War published an article with the headline Putin is Still Stealing Ukrainian Children. In the article they produce convincing evidence that the abduction of children was planned even before the 2022 event invasion of Ukraine.
  • This issue is now subject to prosecution in the International Criminal Court (ICC). On the 17 March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights. The pair are accused of the ‘war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation’.

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

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