Ukraine is collecting evidence of the forced deportation of Ukrainian children by the Russians, which could potentially be used to accuse Russia of genocide in the International Court of Justice. This was stated by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets in an interview with the Voice of America, UNN reports.
"As of now, we are doing all the work together with our international partners. In my opinion, it's a matter of time - we definitely have to do it. The question is when we will accumulate all this evidence," said the ombudsman.
The official welcomed the decision of PACE to call the deportation of Ukrainian children genocide and expressed hope that the countries that joined the international coalition for the return of children would legally recognize the fact that Russia committed genocide against the Ukrainian people.
"Genocide has five features, one of which is the forced transfer of children from one ethnic group to another. This is what the Russians are doing: they occupied the territory of Ukraine, took Ukrainian children, took them to their territory or forcibly moved them within the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, took away Ukrainian documents - birth certificates in the first place, issued their own, very often changed the information and forced children to recognize themselves as Russians and use only the Russian language. All the facts show that this is genocide," Lubinets said.
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Russia has admitted that it has "taken in" about 700,000 Ukrainian children since the start of the full-scale invasion. Lubinets said that Ukraine has managed to identify 19,546 children, and 518 have already returned home.
At the same time, the ombudsman said, the number of children returned is negligible in comparison to the size of the tragedy. According to him, the biggest problem is getting information about the children. He denied the Russian Foreign Minister's claim that the country had provided such information.
"I have official responses from the international organizations I have contacted - there are no lists, no information. The return of each child is like a small special operation - new approaches, new arguments, new partners, even new logistics," Lubinets said.
According to him, after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin and Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on charges of illegally deporting children from Ukraine to Russia, it became easier to return children. In particular, Lubinets argues, this made it possible to return children about whom the Russians refused to even talk.
"The world woke up after the ICC decision. This decision was like a cold shower for leaders - everyone began not only to be "deeply concerned" but also to finally act," the Ombudsman believes.