From July 1, the Yale University Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), which played a key role in documenting Russian war crimes, including the large-scale abduction of Ukrainian children, will cease operations in the United States. This was reported by The Telegraph, citing HRL head Nathaniel Raymond, according to UNN.
Details
The Yale University lab, which played an indispensable role in tracking abducted children, will close due to the cessation of funding from the administration of US President Donald Trump.
According to Nathaniel Raymond, the lab is virtually the only independent source that systematically records facts of forced deportation and Russification of Ukrainian children.
HRL analysts identified 314 abducted Ukrainian children who were already registered in Russian databases under different names as Russian citizens. In total, according to Yale University, Russia forcibly removed approximately 35,000 children from Ukraine. They were either sent to "re-education camps" or adopted into Russian families, erasing any traces of their origin.
For comparison, official Ukrainian data confirm 19,546 cases of child deportation. Of these, only 1,366 have been returned. However, experts believe that the true number of abducted children could range from 260,000 to 700,000.
Raymond is outraged by the lack of reaction from Ukraine's partners.
Apart from us and a few Ukrainian structures, no one is systematically monitoring these crimes. If we stop working, most children will disappear forever
Addition
HRL was established in 2022 with the support of the US government. In two years, the team of analysts collected evidence that became the basis for six International Criminal Court warrants against Russian officials. Among them, in particular, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights.
However, in February, the newly created US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk, unexpectedly cut funding for HRL and blocked researchers' access to their own database. After public outcry, the lab was granted short-term permission to transfer its findings to Europol and the Ukrainian government. This permission expires in early July.
The US Congress has already stated that they were not given explanations regarding the decision to cease funding. 30 lawmakers sent an official letter to the US Secretary of State demanding the resumption of support for the Conflict Observatory. According to CNN, it was previously planned to allocate $8 million to HRL for 2025, but the further fate of these funds remains unknown.
Human rights experts call the situation scandalous.
There is no other structure that could replace the work of this laboratory
Representatives of non-governmental organizations, including Razom for Ukraine, claim that the cessation of funding was not accidental - it is about a targeted curtailment of efforts to record Russian war crimes. As The Washington Post writes, the Trump administration has already withdrawn from an international group investigating crimes by the Russian leadership, reduced the powers of the US Department of Justice's special group on war crimes, and liquidated the program for seizing assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs.
Recall
The administration of US President Donald Trump liquidated an interdepartmental group that was collecting data on Russian war crimes against Ukraine. Several initiatives aimed at holding Moscow accountable for war crimes in Ukraine were canceled, including the establishment of a bipartisan office of the National Intelligence Coordinator (ODNI).
• 12103 переглядiв
• 23473 переглядiв
• 24960 переглядiв
• 72640 переглядiв
• 3469 переглядiв