Human Rights

Russia pressed at UN about illegal deportation of Ukrainian children

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child spent two days questioning Russia on its record, and Kremlin officials said 700,000 Ukrainian children had 'moved' to Russian territories.

Children attend classes at an underground subway passage converted into a kindergarten, in Kharkiv on January 20, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [Sergey Bobok/AFP]
Children attend classes at an underground subway passage converted into a kindergarten, in Kharkiv on January 20, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [Sergey Bobok/AFP]

By AFP |

GENEVA, Switzerland -- Russia on Tuesday (January 23) was pressed at the UN to answer allegations it illegally has deported tens of thousands of Ukrainian children since the invasion of its neighbor began.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child spent two days questioning Russia on its record, as part of a regular review that all countries have to undergo.

Ukraine has said that 20,000 children have been forced to move to Russia since the war erupted in February 2022. President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the action "a genocide".

The independent experts pressed Russia on the deportation allegations, wanting to know how many children were affected, where they have been sent to, by whom and for what reasons. Ukraine says that only about 400 children have so far been repatriated.

Head of delegation, Russia's first Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection Federation Alexey Vovchenko (right) speaks to UN Committee on the Rights of the Child chairperson Ann Marie Skelton (left) prior to the opening of a UN session on January 22. [Fabrice Coffrini/AFP]
Head of delegation, Russia's first Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection Federation Alexey Vovchenko (right) speaks to UN Committee on the Rights of the Child chairperson Ann Marie Skelton (left) prior to the opening of a UN session on January 22. [Fabrice Coffrini/AFP]

The International Criminal Court issued a war crimes arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2023 accusing him of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children.

The ICC has leveled similar charges against Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's presidential commissioner for children's rights.

"Placements for evacuated children are arranged, first and foremost, at their request and with their consent," Russia told the UN committee in a written response in October last year.

And its representatives held a firm line on Tuesday.

Alexey Vovchenko, Russia's deputy minister of labour and social protection, said Russia "welcomed nearly 4.8 million Ukrainian citizens, more than 700,000 are children" into its territories.

"Most of the children came with their families or the guardians," he said.

As for the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which the Kremlin says are now part of Russia, Vovchenko said around 2,000 residents of orphanages and boarding homes were "moved to the Russian Federation".

Vovchenko said he was unable to respond to committee requests concerning the transfer of children from orphanages in Crimea to Russia, asserting that "this is a completely normal process".

Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014.

He was also unable to answer the committee's questions on the number of Russian children who have lost their fathers in the fighting in Ukraine.

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