Invaders forcibly take 13 orphans out of Mariupol to Russia

Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova informed about the facts of the illegal deportation of 13 Ukrainian orphans by the Russian military from Mariupol to Russia.

"It became known about the illegal transfer of 13 orphans, children deprived of parental care," Denisova posted on Telegram.

In particular, six children from a family-type orphanage were taken out of Mariupol to Rostov-on-Don, Russia. A foster mother went for water and did not return, her whereabouts are unknown.

According to the Commissioner, “one of the children from the orphanage managed to get to Zaporizhzhia and reported that the children had been taken to Russia. The boy also noted that the children wanted to return to Ukraine.” In addition, “seven children together with their foster parents were illegally taken from another family-type orphanage in Mariupol to the village of Yagodnoe, Rostov region.”

A mother of another child reported the illegal transfer of her daughter from Mariupol to Donetsk.

Ukrainian children deported to Russia are being raised in the families of Russian citizens, which is a crime that falls under the definition of human trafficking under international law, the Ombudsperson stressed.

"The actions of the occupiers violate the state's obligation to ensure the rights of children in armed conflict as provided for in Article 38 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Russia grossly violates the provisions of Article 49 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War which prohibits the forced relocation or deportation of persons from the occupied territories,” the Commissioner noted.

Denisova calls on the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Red Cross Society to "assist in the fastest possible search for and return of children."

The Commissioner also urges the UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine to "take into account these facts of Russia's violations of children's rights in Ukraine."

As reported, according to the Crimean Human Rights Group, the Russian military has forcibly deported up to 150 children from Mariupol. The vast majority of these children, about a hundred people, were forcibly evacuated from hospitals. It is likely that they were transported to the temporarily occupied Donetsk.

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