The UN has not confirmed “deportation” of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia

 

After threats of Ukrainian authorities to use military measures in order to “reintegrate” the Crimea into Ukraine (see here), the Russian Federation started its military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

After a while, the Ukrainian authorities began to accuse Russia of deporting Ukrainian children to the Russian territory.

On the basis of these accusations by the Ukrainian authorities, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued arrest warrants against the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the RF Ms. M. Lvova-Belova in March 2023; see the official website of this court.

Of course, this situation attracted the attention of the relevant structures of the United Nations and in May 2023, Ms. Virginia Gamba, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Children and Armed Conflict, was sent to Ukraine and Russia; see the official UN website here and here.

However, the US State Department expressed its deep concern (see quote below) that Ms. Virginia Gamba had met in Moscow with the Commissioner for Children's Rights in the RF Ms. Maria Lvova-Belova, since the above-mentioned ICC arrest warrant had been issued against the Ms. Lvova-Belova. Although the fact of issue of an arrest warrant against a certain person does not make him/her a criminal; see the Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on the official website of the UN.

"I will say that we are deeply concerned that a senior UN diplomat met with a fugitive subject to an ICC arrest warrant for committing war crimes against children. Such conduct undermines our shared commitment to protecting children in conflict zones."

see the official website of the US State Department.

A few days before this statement by the US State Department, the President of Ukraine V. Zelensky too had spoken on the subject of “deportation” of Ukrainian children.

"Hundreds of thousands of our children have been deported to Russia, separated from their relatives, and our children there, in Russia, are taught to hate their compatriots."

see the official website of the President of Ukraine.

Half a month after this statement by Zelensky, i.e. at the beginning of June 2023, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered his annual report about children who are in war conflict zones; see the official website of the UN.

This report says the following about the situation with the transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia:

"… the United Nations verified the transfer of 46 children to the Russian Federation from areas of Ukraine that, in part, are or have been under the temporary military control of the Russian Federation, including children forcibly separated from parents, children removed from schools and institutions without the consent of guardians, and a child who was given Russian citizenship."

 As for this citation, I would like to draw your attention to the following points:

Firstly, the UN report does not say about “deportation”, but about “transfer”.

Secondly, Zelensky has said about hundreds of thousands of children on his official website, but the UN report says about only 46 children. That is, all other facts, which the Ukrainian side had referred to, have not been confirmed by the UN.

Thirdly, even these 46 children include children of at least four different categories, for example, not only “removed from schools and institutions without the consent of guardians”.

And if Russians - without the consent of Ukrainian guardianship authorities - actually took several dozens Ukrainian children from orphanages located in the combat areas, this cannot be considered deportation or a crime.

Since I have cited statements of the US State Department and the President of Ukraine in this article above, I think we need to give the floor to Russian Foreign Minister S. Lavrov too at the end of this material; S. Lavrov said the following about these children last month:

"The majority of these kids are those who lived in orphanages, sent there by parents for various reasons. When the special military operation began, we took them to safety – but we neither hid the names of the kids who were taken away nor their location. We have always invited and continue to invite parents, if they show up, to come and retrieve their children."

see the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.