International police use digital tools to locate 8 Ukrainian children illegally deported by russia
Kyiv • UNN
International police have managed to track down eight Ukrainian children who were illegally deported by russia using digital sources such as facial recognition and geolocation.
An international police force has managed to find eight Ukrainian children who were illegally deported by russia. The search was initiated by the Dutch police and Europol. They shared the information with the Ukrainian authorities. This was reported by UNN with reference to Algemeen Dagblad.
Details
A few weeks ago, a conference was held at Europol's headquarters in The Hague, attended by 60 detectives and investigators from 23 countries, including Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was also attended by representatives of six non-governmental organizations that specialize in data analysis using satellite imagery and other tools.
The head of the International Crimes Unit of the National Police Investigations Unit, Vincent Sillessen, said that it was the first time that international open source digital (OSINT) specialists had worked so closely with the police when working on the topic of child abductions in Ukraine.
Since the war began in February 2022, the russians have taken thousands of Ukrainian children from their familiar environment. This can be considered a war crime. Since we do not have physical access to russia, we are trying to find these children and perpetrators based on digital sources
Investigators searched open online sources for information that would allow them to determine the exact whereabouts of the eight deported children. For example, advanced facial recognition was used to find recent photos of the children. Geolocation experts (determining the exact location of photographs or videos using satellite imagery) were able to pinpoint the exact location of the footage.
Due to security threats, the police cannot say anything about the identity and whereabouts of the children. It is only reported that they include orphaned children forcibly relocated from russia-occupied territory. These children have also been used for Russian propaganda purposes.
It is also noted that the police international crimes unit shared the information found with the Ukrainian authorities.
We are working with colleagues in Ukraine and it is now the task of the police to share information with the family and launch a criminal investigation into the possible perpetrators of the deportation
Recall
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine can document about 20,000 cases of forced displacement of Ukrainian children,but the real number is higher.
