Deportation of Ukrainian children from the occupied territory to russia must not be considered evacuation, and further forced procedures of passporting and adoption are making it extremely difficult to later identify these children and return them to Ukraine. However, children who left for European countries also face problems due to differences in guardianship. OPORA analysts discussed these issues with Aksana Filipishyna, the representative of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for the observance of the rights of the child and family, in the Monday online discussion "The Occupied" on July 25.
According to Oleksandr Kliuzhev, OPORA's senior analyst, Ukrainian children are one of the priority targets of putin's russia attack.
"Ukrainian children are taken out of the occupied territories and deported. During the filtering, especially in the Mariupol region, cases of family separation were recorded, when adults and parents were sent to the filtering camps. We have an important and complex issue of the illegal detention of children on the territory of russia and the unwillingness of the aggressor state to enter into real negotiations on the return of these Ukrainian children. There is a lot of PR in russia around our children from Mariupol, Severodonetsk, and other settlements," Oleksandr Kliuzhev said.
OPORA’s analyst Anatolii Bondarchuk believes that the key topic last week in the newly occupied territories was the announcement of the formation of so-called "commissions" for the preparation of so-called "referendums" in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. This was also preceded by the statement of the minister of foreign affairs of russia sergey lavrov that russia is preparing to expand the geography of the conflict – that is, it is preparing grounds to annex our territories. Instead, the Ukrainian authorities make it clear that Ukraine does not support the idea of freezing the conflict and is ready to fight for all its territories and will de-occupy them.
The occupiers plan to gain a foothold in our occupied territories for a long time. They recently announced that they would open russian post offices where they want to issue pensions. In addition, the so-called "humanitarian headquarters" of the "united russia" party operate there, and work on the launch of its other organs is constantly ongoing. These post offices of the occupiers should start working from August 1. It is announced that the citizens of Ukraine in the occupied territories who are entitled to receive pensions will be able to receive payments accrued from July 1 of this year.
"Thus, we see that they are trying to introduce the ruble on the one hand, because the pensions will be paid in rubles, displacing the hryvnia. And in this way, they are trying somehow to ‘please’ the residents of the occupied territories," Anatolii Bondarchuk said.
There were also public talks about the strategy of preparation for the referendum in the so-called "DNR", where it is assumed that 70% of the so-called "voters" should vote for joining russia in order to implement the so-called "referendum results".
In addition, the occupiers are trying to intimidate the Ukrainian population in the occupied territories. In particular, they offer a reward for reporting on persons with pro-Ukrainian views.
Volodymyr Saldo, the chief collaborator of the Kherson region, who heads the occupation administration, said that they plan to station russian military units in Kherson to ensure, from their point of view, security in the region.
In addition, the paasportization Ukrainian citizens in the occupied territories with russian passports continues, and new "passport centers" are opened. Although at the moment, not so many people are willing to accept this offer.
anna kuznetsova, the deputy speaker of the russian state duma, visited the occupied territory of the Kharkiv region. She promised the local occupiers to allocate money from the russian budget for the reconstruction of the Kharkiv region, which was actually destroyed by the russians themselves. Speaking in the same context, the russians in Mariupol continue to "collect" the so-called "evidence" from local residents under occupation that the city was allegedly destroyed by the Ukrainian army, although the whole world knows that russia did it. They promise to allegedly restore Mariupol by 2040 so that by then it will no longer be subsidized.
Traditionally, the occupiers continue to fight with alternative sources of information – they block access to various social networks and Google. They continue to distribute T2 set-top boxes so that residents of the occupied territories can consume russian propaganda on their televisions.
"Political track in the occupied territories is really accelerating. russians are increasingly talking about a pseudo-referendum on joining the newly captured territories to russia. I think that this is connected with the intentions of Ukraine regarding the counteroffensive. And it is important for them to demonstrate their readiness, to create quasi-legal grounds for declaring that this is their territory. They are trying to create these quasi-legal grounds by holding a so-called ‘referendum’ and are actively promoting the possibility and probability of its holding. And here we are talking not only about what the collaborators in the occupied territories claim but also about the placement of propaganda materials about the upcoming ‘referendum’ on all key russian state media. This includes interviews with the heads of the so-called military-civilian administrations, where they say openly that the work has already begun and they want to close the issue of joining these territories to russia in September. A fool is rich in his thought, as they say, but we have to do our own thing. It is already obvious that russia will raise the stakes by holding so-called ‘referendums’ not just on the creation of so-called ‘people's republics’, but on the annexation of territories captured by force to russia. This is obvious, according to the statements of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, which are actively investigating the so-called ‘members of the election commissions’, investigating the risks of holding this illegal so-called ‘referendum’. Both the specificity and the complexity of the situation may be explained by the fact that, unlike in 2014, russia is not going to hide, even at the propaganda level, the fact that it is stealing these territories of Ukraine. That is, in 2014, in Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea they tried to create an atmosphere at the level of their propaganda channels as if it were the will of the people. Now, in fact, reading the statements of russian officials, they frankly say ‘the referendum doesn’t matter, but the main thing is that we are going to take these territories and control them for a long time.’ Therefore, both in terms of sanctions and in terms of the reaction of the international community, everything should be obvious that it is necessary to intensify decisive opposition to these attempts to steal Ukrainian territories", Oleksandr Kliuzhev said.
According to him, the trend of the week is also the strengthening of the work of the FSB and other bodies in detaining the so-called "saboteurs and extremists". Perhaps this is also related to the previous activity of the investigative committee of the russian federation. Thus, russia is going to increase repression against Ukrainians and clear the territories.
Aksana Filipishyna, the representative of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for the observance of the rights of the child and family, believes that the situation with Ukrainian children who were taken away by russia is catastrophic.
According to her, at the beginning of a full-scale armed aggression, there were 7.5 million children in Ukraine. Since the occupied regions have always been densely populated, then, accordingly, we can talk about millions of children who were affected by the occupation.
The collection of information regarding the removed children takes place through various channels, including a number of official russian agencies.
"The numbers change every day. For example, as of today (July 25 – ed.), the russian federation declares that 452,000 children have crossed the Ukrainian-russian border. We are talking about children with parents who have been relocated to the territory of the russian federation, as well as orphans, children deprived of parental care," Aksana Filipishyna said.
In Ukraine, the National Information Bureau records data on the deportation of children. Citizens can apply there directly, information is also provided there by official Ukrainian structures – that is, everyone who became aware of the deportation of a person and a child in particular. As of today, verified data about 5,658 thousand children, and these numbers change every day.
"What worries us? First of all, during June and July, reports from the occupiers regarding forced passporting and placement of our children in the families of citizens of the russian federation became extremely active. At the beginning of June, information appeared on the website of the children's rights commissioner of the president of the russian federation that 540 Ukrainian orphans, children deprived of parental care from the Donetsk region are in the recreation camp ‘Romashka’ in the Rostov region, another 31 children are in the camp ‘Polyana". Immediately after receiving this message, we sent an official appeal. To our great regret, we did not receive answers to provide us with personalized information about what our children are, and on what basis they are there – for the purpose of searching for parents and relatives in the controlled part of Ukraine. We reminded russia that, in fact, it is a party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and is obliged to refrain from arranging our children, placing them and must return the state's consent. Also, on July 16, information was disseminated on social networks by the commissioner of the russian president on child rights about 108 Ukrainian orphans, children deprived of parental care, who have already been placed in families of russian citizens in 6 regions: kaluga, tula, voronezh, moscow regions, the city of moscow and even the yamalo-nenets autonomous district. That is, the geography of placement of our children is extremely wide," Aksana Filipishyna said.
putin's decree of May 30 of this year regarding the simplification of the procedure for acquiring citizenship for orphans and children deprived of parental care became the legal basis for the occupying country to carry out this atrocity. It is clear that we are talking about forced citizenship of the russian federation for a child in such cases, and then there is an adoption procedure, a court case, and so on.
"Why is the adoption procedure dangerous? As a result of it, the adopter can change not only the child's first and last name, they can even change the date of birth. This means that it will be very difficult for us to personify and identify our children in the future. According to the laws of the russian federation, adoption is secret. If the adopter keeps the secret of the adoption, then it will be very difficult to find where our child is," Aksana Filipishyna said.
Unfortunately, we do not have information on the number of children who have already been forcibly passported. According to the expert, the process of negotiations regarding the return of Ukrainian children to Ukraine is extremely difficult, it is overseen by the Ministry of Reintegration of Ukraine. Each case is individual, each case is different, and the number of people involved in each case is different. To date, only 47 children have been returned to Ukraine.
She also emphasizes that families who were deported or forced to leave the occupied territories precisely because of russia face a lot of problems to get out of there. In particular, there is an information vacuum. But if they manage to get in touch with Ukrainian state structures through the Internet, then they can already be consulted here. We have various services in electronic format, for example, "eCourt", "eMaliatko".
A large number of appeals concern the loss of documents for children and, accordingly, the impossibility of further movement from the territory of russia because of this. There are women who gave birth to a child already on the territory of russia, or, for example, gave birth in occupied Mariupol and did not have the opportunity to issue a birth certificate. For such cases, there are a number of ways to obtain a Ukrainian birth certificate. In particular, the Ukrainian ombudsman can apply to the court to establish facts of legal significance, for example, the birth of a child. According to a court decision, through third countries, through diplomatic channels, restored documents can be transferred to the family, so that they can leave the territory of russia in the future. There has already been the first court case.
In addition, people face the problem of lack of funds because, in order to get to third countries, it is often necessary to cross a large part of russia from the place where they were resettled. And, of course, there is the absence or limited number of so-called "green corridors" where people would like to leave the occupied territory directly to Ukraine.
According to the expert, the forced citizenship and adoption of Ukrainian children in russia is a violation of at least two articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – Article 8 and Article 21.
"What the russian federation is doing today clearly falls under Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide when it comes to, and I told you about it, this adoption and the loss of the child's identity and its connection with its family, origin and so on. That is, the forced transfer of a child from one group to another is what the russian federation does. Strictly speaking, according to these facts, including public ones, even without the personification of children, the Prosecutor General's Office initiates criminal cases, all these cases are recorded and all these cases are formed for the Hague Tribunal in relation to the russian federation. Therefore, we still hope that the russian federation will not be able to avoid punishment for these crimes that they commit against Ukrainian children," Aksana Filipishyna said.
Moreover, the deportation of children is a violation of Article 49 of the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Population.
As the expert notes, there are currently 652 points of temporary accommodation of Ukrainians on the territory of the russian federation. The humanitarian situation there is different. There are even testimonies of the Ukrainian families who were able to leave there and return to Ukraine, who talk about filtering, visits by the FSB, separation of children from their parents, etc. People, in fact, are not promised anything, somewhere they give them 10 thousand rubles, and somewhere not. It is suggested to go to relatives, if there are any, or to wait for distribution on the territory of russia, during which even families with children can be sent to Siberia or beyond the Arctic Circle.
In addition, Ukrainian-speaking children who do not know the russian language were forced to submit to forced educational russification in the occupied territory. The occupying country continued the educational process there in the summer to force the children to learn the russian language by September. Also, russian-language textbooks with a program oriented to the russian school curriculum were imported.
She also emphasizes that strong militarization of children has been taking place in the occupied territories since 2014. For example, russia created a militaristic propaganda project, the so-called "youth army", which involves a large number of children.
The representative of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for the observance of the rights of the child and family also identified the TOP-3 priorities, which, in her opinion, the state of Ukraine should focus on in terms of protecting children now.
"I would single out three basic things. First, it is a matter of security. If the security situation is negative, of course, everything must be done to negotiate humanitarian corridors and help our people leave in various ways. In order to encourage our people to leave, they need to be offered something. This means that, strictly speaking, the logistics of accommodating internally displaced persons must be strengthened. In general, it exists, but, in our opinion, it should be more mobile and more flexible. And, of course, there is the issue of housing, which, as a matter of fact, holds people back, even in those situations where there is an opportunity to leave, but they hesitate and do not do it. Winter is ahead, let's talk about the fact that we have a large number of internally displaced persons still housed here, for example, in educational institutions. The first of September is coming soon and our own educational process. Therefore, there is the issue of mobile homes and humanitarian aid for the arrangement of places for the accommodation of internally displaced persons. That is, a person needs to live somewhere in a safe place, to be able to move there. The second issue for children is education, so that we do not lose our children in this regard, and children do not lag behind other children on the controlled part. Strictly speaking, here the Ministry of Education and Science has developed online learning for almost all parallel classes. Children, even if they are forced to go to schools in the occupied territories according to the programs imposed by the aggressor country, can be enrolled in any institution in the controlled part and continue their education online. I would like to remind you that we currently have an additional session, for example, for passing the National Multidisciplinary Test for admission to higher education. And, by the way, for children from the occupied territories or those who did not have time to register, there will be a special session from August 12. The state tries to create conditions not only for obtaining education but also for realizing the right to higher education, for example. The third issue, in my opinion, is that the family should be able to live more or less in abundance. This means help to families. I want to say that the state continues to pay assistance to the poor, upon the birth of a child and so on, even to families in the occupied territories. Those families who managed to issue all the benefits by February 24, and are in the National Register, will be transferred funds to them. Sometimes we received reports about the delays in June, but, nevertheless, the funds were paid to people. If the situation arose after the occupation, then again, as I already mentioned, there is the "eMaliatko" function, which is the opportunity to register and receive certain benefits. That is why the state is trying to support our families, and I think that we should not stop there. We should think about possibly simplifying the birth registration procedure. Today, I already said that this is an electronic court, a separate chapter in the Civil Procedure Code, article 317. But these are all simplified procedures in order to make it as easy as possible for people to access services, and still feel like citizens of Ukraine, and know that the state cares about them and remembers them. So, the key things are maintenance of children – help, education and, of course, relocation and housing", Aksana Filipishyna said.
According to the expert, there are certain challenges in the de-occupied territories as well. After all, many people left due to security factors and did not return. Therefore, some state institutions, for example, guardianship bodies and child care services, did not fully function. In addition, a large number of teachers are currently either internally displaced persons or have moved to EU countries – about 22 thousand teachers. In addition, out of 17,000 educational institutions in Ukraine, 2,188 institutions were affected, including 691 kindergartens. About 300 educational institutions have been completely destroyed, and there is nothing to repair there.
She also notes that there are definitely problems with children who have left for different countries. Their number is more than 2 million, they left both with their parents and without their parents. In some small European cities, where our children are placed, not everywhere there is access to the Internet, which causes problems with access to education. Also, children left in a hurry, so there are not always enough gadgets with which it would be possible to join the study process. The education in the country to which the children moved is mandatory. For example, in Germany, the German language and German history are mandatory to study. This means that our child goes to school and is surrounded by children speaking a foreign language, and therefore the process of socialization is difficult. Studying at a Ukrainian school online is already in your free time from studying at a school in the host country.
If the children moved to another country as a whole institution, then the attitude towards them is as if the children moved unaccompanied. That is, from the point of view of European legislation, the educator, head of the institution or foster parents do not count. If the child is unaccompanied by at least one of the parents, then it is considered that it is unaccompanied.
"They are going through court procedures to reassign legal representation. Sometimes the courts confirm legal representation on the part of our heads of institutions, and sometimes local legal representatives are appointed, respectively, Germans, Italians, Lithuanians, Poles, and others. Certain points arise regarding approaches to education, children's leisure time, and so on. We have several legal proceedings regarding the custody of our children. The situation in Italy is extremely alarming, here the most cases are occurring. There will be a special meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister Mrs. Iryna Vereshchuk on Friday, where we will consider these issues in detail. I want to say that the Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Dmytro Lubinets, was approached by several directors of institutions with a request for assistance in the return of children due to this misunderstanding with the guardianship authorities abroad, as well as from adoptive families who also had problems with the removal of children from them. Therefore, there are moments, there are problems, and the number of children who have moved is large. Now we are watching queues among our citizens to return to the Motherland – people are still trying to return and somehow arrange their lives on the territory of Ukraine," Aksana Filipishyna said.