Deported Future: how Ukraine returns children forcibly deported to the Russian Federation

The process of returning the children to Ukraine continues. Although Ukraine involves various diplomatic and consular missions, the process is slow. Rubryka looked into the process and explained what to do if a child is deported.

On February 18, 2022, the authorities of the LNR and DNR signed an order to evacuate residents to the Russian Federation due to increased military aggression of the Ukrainian army on the borders, as explained by Russians. Orphanages began to be taken out along with adult residents. On May 30, Putin signed orders allowing children to obtain Russian citizenship even without guardianship from the DNR or LNR. Children taken out of Ukraine could also receive citizenship of the Russian Federation under a simplified procedure.

On November 29, 2022, Russia officially announced that 715,934 children had already been taken to Russian territory. At the same time, the National Information Bureau of Ukraine was able to confirm 19,393 cases of deportation of children as of May 4, 2023. These children's names and data are reliably known to the Ukrainian side. Of them, only 364 children were returned.

At the same time, one can only guess how many cases were not reported because of the death of relatives due to hostilities, so establishing the exact number of injured or deported children is still impossible.

Children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine continue to be adopted by families in the Russian Federation, and the representative of the aggressor country does not always meet habitat to discuss this issue. Rubryka found out how the process of deporting children goes, how Ukraine can return them, and what parents whose children ended up in Russia could do.

The National Information Bureau assures that the state is taking all measures to return every citizen of Ukraine home. Today, almost the only solution in the case of the deportation of children is to report it to the state authorities, giving all the necessary information about the child. Currently, the following bodies are engaged in the process:

• National Information Bureau;
• Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine;
• Office of the Prosecutor General;
• Security Service of Ukraine;
• National Police.

The Center for Human Rights ZMINA talks about deportation, which is a war crime, and it is essential to declare it. This is the only way to bring the guilty party to justice. This can be done not only in Ukraine but also abroad.

The state must know about individual cases to ensure the prosecution of those who committed the deportation. Because in a crime, there is always a subject who commits it. It is important that these subjects are identified and brought to justice, says Alyona Lunyova, Director of Advocacy of the Human Rights Center ZMINA.

When the information is received by the National Bureau and the Ministry of Reintegration, the children's data are entered into the relevant register of the bureau. Further, these institutions coordinate their activities with other central bodies of executive power, local self-government, non-governmental and international organizations, and law enforcement agencies. If it is possible to obtain any information about the child, the parents or guardians are immediately notified.

The Ministry of Reintegration, the National Intelligence Service, the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police, employees of other ministries, and other bodies and services work continuously to find information about all children who could be forcibly relocated or deported from Ukraine. If the parents are not contacted, it does not mean that the request is ignored or forgotten about. When the state authority receives updated information about the child, close relatives are immediately notified. 

"Unfortunately, given the difficult situation associated with a full-scale invasion, it is impossible to give an exact response time," the National Information Bureau reports.

The Eastern Human Rights Group and the Institute for Strategic Studies and Security prepared an analytical report on the forced deportation of children to the Russian Federation. Human rights defenders have studied numerous legislative acts and journalistic materials of the aggressor country to understand how this process occurs and whether it can be stopped. The report identified several categories of children who may be forcibly deported.

These are orphans who, before the full-scale invasion, were in orphanages, boarding schools, and shelters without parents or relatives. They began to be taken to the Russian Federation under the guise of evacuation from February 18, 2022.

📌 Children whose parents have been deprived of parental rights allegedly for violating the child's rights in socio-economic or educational terms. Human rights activists explain that men from the DNR and LNR began to be mobilized before a full-scale invasion, due to which most of them died during the fighting.

There were families whose mothers went to Russia to earn money, and the child stayed with grandparents or acquaintances. Specially created Commissions for Observing the Rights of Minors began to study such cases and take away children who were left without parental supervision, explains the director of the Eastern Human Rights Group organization and lawyer Vira Yastrebova.

📌 Children who were left without care due to the war. A report by the Eastern Human Rights Group and the Institute for Strategic Studies explains that many families were separated after February 24. This could happen when crossing the border between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, in filtering camps, or at checkpoints.

📌 Children with parents. Complete families who were forcibly taken to the Russian Federation for permanent residence.

 After the deportation, the issue of distributing and issuing Russian passports arises. For this purpose, the Russian Federation adopted relevant legislative acts.

There are cases when parents staying in temporarily occupied territories for various reasons consent to take their children to the Russian Federation. After liberating these territories by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the parents cannot return them.

"We know of at least two cases in the Kherson region when parents agreed to take children to camps in Crimea. After the liberation of Kherson, of course, no one started bringing children back. They told the parents: "Come and get them." But considering the front line, parents couldn't get there," says Lunyova.

Human rights activists divide the process of deportation into the following stages:

1. Removal of a child from an apartment or institution to a temporary detention center in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine (Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhia regions).
2. Transit by car or train to temporary detention centers in the regions of the Russian Federation bordering Ukraine (Kursk, Rostov, Voronezh).
3. Next, transit of the child to the point of temporary detention by the subject of the Russian Federation.
4. After that, the child is delivered to the family centers, which are located in various settlements in Russia.
5. A guardian is appointed for the child (most often, it is an employee of a family center) to start the procedure of accepting children into the citizenship of the Russian Federation and then transfer the child to a specific family for adoption.

Director of the Eastern Human Rights Group and lawyer Yastrebova says that the deportation of Ukrainian children is another act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. These children could have gone through hell and lost their parents or other relatives, but instead of peace and help, they received a new test — deportation to a country that deprived them of peace, family, and a chance for a peaceful life. The view of Yastrebova is shared by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which at the end of April 2023, recognized such actions of Russia as genocide.

If your child has been forcibly removed to a temporarily occupied territory or you have witnessed the illegal abduction of a child, you should gather as much information as possible about the child and the circumstances of the deportation:

• child's name;
• the exact date of birth;
• place of residence;
• the place from which the child was moved;
• with whom they were deported;
• if known, data on the current stay of the child or the last known place of his stay;
• child status — orphan, deprived of parental care or adopted, has parents;
• special signs;
• photo of the child, video or photo confirmation of the child's deportation.

These data can be transferred and reported about the child's deportation to the National Information Bureau, the Ministry of Reintegration, the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police, and the Prosecutor General's Office. All contacts can be found in a special booklet on this topic. In Ukraine, there is also an online form through which you can report the disappearance, deportation, or forced transfer of a child.

There can be no diplomatic relations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation now, and negotiations are slow and fruitless. Ukraine is gradually developing mechanisms for returning children. So far, it is most often possible to do this through charitable organizations and volunteers.

The Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine stated that the Russian side reported that there are children on its territory who want to return to Ukraine.

"However, they did not give me names or any personal data. Therefore, I appeal to all citizens of Ukraine who are looking for children — contact me! I will compile a list of parents and relatives who can pick up children. We will continue to work on their return. We agreed that I would send such a request to the Russian side. They will form their list and officially address me as the Ombudsman of Ukraine," informed the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytro Lubinets.

There are positive stories about the return of children to Ukraine, and we hope their number will increase in the future. In December of last year, it became known about the return of a 16-year-old boy to Ukraine, who was forcibly deported to the Russian Federation from Mariupol. The Russians illegally adopted him, but he escaped them and independently found ways to return home.

In this story, Serhii searched and found help on the Internet. The relevant Ukrainian services saw his message, and within a day, he was met at the border with Ukraine. The procedure for filing documents for his sister to become his guardian is underway. 

Also, in December, it was possible to return three children who were forcibly taken to the Russian Federation from the Kharkiv region during the occupation. Lubinets said that the children were taken to the city of Gelendzhik in August under the pretext of rehabilitation.

"To return the children to Ukraine, their parents had to obtain foreign passports. Currently, the road to the Russian Federation runs through third countries, so the parents had to go through a huge and sometimes dangerous path, which is almost impossible to overcome on their own," said Lubinets.

Mechanisms for returning children are working. It can be a long process, but it can become effective with the help of foundations, volunteers, and government agencies.