Published February 08,2024
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The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child on Thursday urged Russia to finish the forcible switch of youngsters from occupied areas of Ukraine in violation of worldwide legislation, and return them to their households.
Kyiv says 20,000 youngsters have been taken from Ukraine to Russia with out household or guardians’ consent, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) is in search of the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged unlawful deportation, an accusation the Kremlin denies.
In a report on Russia, the U.N. committee mentioned Moscow ought to present details about the exact variety of youngsters taken from Ukraine and their whereabouts, to allow them to be recognized and returned.
The committee additionally mentioned Russia ought to be certain that no baby was disadvantaged of their Ukrainian nationality, and that their id, title and household relations have to be preserved.
Moscow, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, says it has solely been defending susceptible youngsters from a struggle zone.
Committee chair Ann Skelton mentioned the committee and a Russian delegation that travelled to Geneva final month for talks on baby points had been “talking past one another”.
“We found often in the dialogue that we were using one type of terminology and they were using another,” she mentioned.
“We were using the word ‘adoption’ and they were denying that it’s adoption and talking about ‘fostering children’.”
She mentioned the delegation had acknowledged that many youngsters had been given Russian citizenship, “which would also in itself mean that these children were losing their identity and being given a Russian identity”.
The ICC issued arrest warrants final March for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for kids’s rights, on prices of illegally deporting youngsters from Ukraine.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor mentioned Russia had transferred “at least hundreds” of youngsters from orphanages and care properties in occupied areas of Ukraine, and that many had been given up for adoption.
The Kremlin dismissed the ICC allegations as “outrageous and unacceptable”.
Source: www.anews.com.tr