Russia has abducted over 20,000 Ukrainian children, 1.5 million face risk of deportation – Ukraine’s ombudsman

Currently, the Russian Federation has abducted more than 20,000 children from Ukraine. Yet, there is a significant danger of expulsion for an additional 1.5 million children who are still in the territories that are temporarily occupied.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, reported that.

As the ombudsman pointed out, the personal information of forcibly displaced and deported children is altered. This is necessary to prevent their relatives from locating and bringing them back.

"Our children are even sent to so-called re-education camps, where they are bombarded with Russian propaganda. Just imagine: our children are forced to deny their Ukrainian origin," Lubinets said during his introduction at the event of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children.

According to the ombudsman's office, specifically, children from the Oleshkivsky Children's Boarding Home, which is a communal institution under the Kherson Regional Council, were initially relocated to the occupied territories and later expelled to Russia. Additionally, children from the Kherson Regional Boarding Home were also deported and unlawfully adopted.

The office of the ombudsman also revealed instances in which Ukrainian orphans brought to the Russian Federation do not receive proper medical treatment and are living in substandard conditions.

Lubinets also stated that the main problem now is that Russia is deliberately slowing down the process of returning Ukrainian children.

According to the ombudsman, during the meeting, the results of the Coalition's work for six months were summed up, plans were outlined, and a Joint Statement was issued, which defined the main principles of returning children:

• transparency regarding data about children,
• access of international missions to them,
• support for Ukraine's humanitarian efforts,
• long-term support for reintegration,
• ensuring children's access to justice and fairness.

"Ukraine is independently searching and checking children's whereabouts, searching for their relatives, and involving family forms of upbringing in this process. Our country is also working on improving legal mechanisms and cooperation between state bodies to protect the rights of children and their return," the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights representative emphasized.

Lubinets emphasized that international support is vital for Ukraine, so he called on all our partners to continue to work together and increase pressure on Russia.

"[Russia's – ed] actions should be recognized as an international crime, and all those involved in the abduction of Ukrainian children should be brought to justice," he summarized.

For reference:

As of August 2024, 19,546 deported and forcibly displaced children have been identified. The study "(Non)return of children: Ukraine facing the biggest challenge since independence" is an analysis of what happens to deported children in Russia, how they are returned, and what algorithms the state should develop.

It is worth mentioning that during the October 2023 meeting of advisors on national security and foreign policy, Canadian representatives suggested the idea of forming a coalition of nations to assist in bringing back Ukrainian children who were deported by the aggressor country.

Japan joined the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children.

Also, the United States of America officially became a member state of the coalition, which advocates for the safe return to Ukraine of children illegally deported and displaced by the Russian Federation during the war.

It should be added that the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children already includes 37 countries, and recently, Argentina also joined it.