“Russia’s failure to return Ukrainian children separated from their families and legal guardians is a serious violation of their human rights”. There is an “urgent” need “to reunite these children with their families”, said Dunja Mijatović, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, on Monday 6 March, after a visit to Ukraine.
The Commissioner distinguished several cases among these displaced children in Russia or in the occupied territories: some come from orphanages or institutions set up in occupied territories before or after 24 February 2022; others have seen their parents killed, wounded, detained or disappear, for example during the bombing of Mariupol. Still others were sent to re-education camps in Russia or the occupied Ukrainian territories without being returned to their parents.
They are said to be subjected to indoctrination denigrating Ukrainian identity.
Dunja Mijatović denounces the “deliberate exploitation of the children’s vulnerability” and warns of cases of adoption by Russian citizens supported by officials at all levels.
The return of these children is “an extremely complex undertaking marred by different obstacles”, she admits, stressing in particular the lack of access to these children and the difficulty of establishing “reliable figures”.
But the matter is urgent, “a top priority” and it must mobilise “all available expertise” in order to develop “a mechanism for reuniting”.
Ms Mijatović calls on international institutions and the member states of the Council of Europe to work towards this goal.
The Commissioner also stressed the importance, in the long run, of bringing the perpetrators of these violations of children’s rights to justice.
She announced a forthcoming report on the human rights situation of the Crimean Tatars.
Link to the Commissioner’s statement: https://aeur.eu/f/5oc (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)