Russia is deliberately slowing down the process of returning our children - Lubinets

Ukraine is actively working to improve legal mechanisms to protect the rights of children and their return, but Russia is deliberately delaying this process.

This was stated by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets at the Third Plenary Event of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, UNN reports.

He informed the audience that Russia has abducted more than 20 thousand children from Ukraine. However, there is a high risk of deportation of another 1.5 million children who remain in the temporarily occupied territories. Forcibly displaced and deported persons have their personal data changed so that their relatives and homeland cannot find them and return them. Our children are even sent to so-called “re-education camps” where they are zombified with Russian propaganda. Just imagine: our children are being forced to deny their Ukrainian origin

According to him, he told international partners about the situation with orphanages, such as the Oleshky Orphanage, which is subordinated to the Kherson Regional Council, where children were first moved to the occupied territories and later deported to Russia. In addition, children from the Kherson Regional Children's Home were deported to Russia and adopted without the necessary permission.

We are aware of the facts that Ukrainian orphans taken to Russia receive inadequate medical care and have inadequate living conditions. Ukraine is independently searching for and verifying the whereabouts of children, tracing their relatives and involving family-based forms of care in this process

 The Ombudsperson noted that Ukraine is working to improve legal mechanisms and interaction between state bodies to protect the rights of children and their return. In particular, two important resolutions were adopted, which are key steps in organizing internal processes aimed at returning deported Ukrainian children and guaranteeing their rights upon return.

The main problem now is that Russia is deliberately slowing down the process of returning our children

During the meeting, they summarized the work of the Coalition over the past six months, outlined plans for the future and adopted a Joint Statement outlining the key principles of child return: transparency of information about children, access to children for international missions, support for Ukraine's humanitarian efforts, continued support for the reintegration process, and guaranteeing children access to justice and fairness.

Recall

There has been no agreement on the exchange of children between Ukraine and Russia and there can be no such agreement, according to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets , who reacted to media reports that Qatar had allegedly announced an agreement on the exchange of 13 children.