Punished by food deprivation and kept in isolation: Lubinets reacted to the violation of the rights of over 500 Ukrainian children in Turkey

Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, has responded to violations of the rights of over 500 Ukrainian children evacuated to Turkey after the start of the full-scale war, including cases of physical and psychological abuse. He noted that the identified facts were sent to the Prime Minister of Ukraine and every responsible state authority to take urgent response measures. Lubinets wrote about this on Telegram, as reported by UNN.

Details

As Lubinets recounted, in December, he received requests for comments on the situation with Ukrainian children temporarily displaced (evacuated) to Turkey, as highlighted in a media investigation, which included excerpts from the Ombudsman's Office report, compiled based on a monitoring visit to Turkey, containing sensitive information about gross violations of children's rights.

This concerns over 500 children from Ukrainian institutional care and upbringing facilities, as well as family-based care, who were evacuated from Dnipropetrovsk region to Turkey after February 24, 2022, and accommodated in hotels. Already in early 2024, information about possible violations of minors' rights was received by the Ombudsman's Office directly from the children, as well as from other sources. To verify the data, my representatives visited families in the Dnipropetrovsk region to which the children had returned from Turkey. In March, I initiated a monitoring visit 

During it, according to the testimonies of the facility residents, these children systematically suffered physical and psychological violence from caregivers, as well as older residents towards younger ones, including:

• children were kept in isolation. Accompanying persons forbade the facility residents from communicating with Turkish psychologists, who were present at the hotel around the clock, so that the children would not report violations of their rights;
• punished by deprivation of food;
• children could leave the hotel territory unsupervised, exposing themselves to danger in another country.

All identified violations have been confirmed by the Chief Ombudsman of Turkey, who signed a separate report based on the visit. His representatives, as well as employees of the Ministry of Family and Social Services of Turkey, were directly involved in the monitoring. Regarding the facts of pregnant minors returning to Ukraine, it should be clearly understood what the consequences of disseminating such information are. Publicity is a very effective tool. Its application should always be preceded by an assessment, a comparison of the risks and benefits of disclosing certain data. It should be noted that the report compiled based on the visit contains information, a set of information about individuals (in particular, children whose rights were found to be violated by the monitoring group) who are identified or can be specifically identified (paragraph 10, part 1, Article 2 of the Law of Ukraine "On Personal Data Protection"), as well as other sensitive information, access to which is reasonably restricted in the interests of children, including those born 

According to him, it is surprising that in 2023, representatives of the Ministry of Social Policy monitored the conditions of these children's stay in Turkey, but in the official report, they stated that they received proper care and were provided with social, medical, and other services. At the same time, the Turkish side appealed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine regarding violations of the rights of evacuated children. However, these appeals were not properly taken into account.

All identified shocking facts were outlined in the report and sent to the Prime Minister of Ukraine and every responsible state authority to take urgent response measures. In addition, materials that may indicate cruel treatment of children were sent to the Prosecutor General's Office. I note: the dissemination of information and materials about children whose rights have been violated into the media space, as well as in any other way to any third parties, was not carried out due to the sensitivity of the information. Adherence to children's rights, including the protection of personal data and privacy, is mandatory in all response processes. Any disclosure of data that could identify a child or harm them is unacceptable and contradicts national legislation and international standards 

Recall

Ukraine handed over lists of Ukrainian prisoners of war and missing persons to the Chief Ombudsman of Turkey, Mehmet Akarca. This was done for verification and repatriation, including the seriously ill and civilians.