As of December 31, 2023, the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner received information about 255 Ukrainian children who were taken abroad by local social services. This was announced by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets in an interview with NV, UNN reports .
Details
Lubinets emphasizes that the worst situation is in Germany, where 71 such cases have been recorded, followed by Poland (33), Italy (25), the Czech Republic (24), and Sweden (17).
Such situations could have been avoided, Lubinets argues, if Ukrainian citizens living in other countries had a better understanding of the intricacies of local legislation.
"In January 2024, I, as the Ombudsman of Ukraine, sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, in particular, asking him to take all possible measures to establish cooperation at the level of competent authorities and intergovernmental/interstate agreements with other countries. The main goal is to facilitate the return of (removed - ed.) children-citizens of Ukraine to their legal representatives
It is known that the Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine is currently processing appeals regarding 176 children taken from their parents and other legal representatives abroad.
According to the ombudsman, a common reason for such situations is the lack of relevant documents from parents and other legal representatives, as well as improper fulfillment of parental responsibilities, according to EU law, i.e:
- raising your voice,
- any physical impact on the child in order to calm him/her down,
- being left without adult supervision for a long time.
As Lubinets explains, the decision of social authorities can be influenced by the aggressive behavior of the children themselves or their failure to attend school.