Ukrainian Children Forcibly Transferred And Subjected To Illegal Adoptions

In 2021, and before Putin’s war, a report produced by Save the Children found that over 450 million children worldwide (or 1 in 6) were living in a conflict zone, a 5% increase from 2019. While the 2021 statistics show the highest numbers of children in conflict in 20 years, Putin’s war added extra 7.5 million children to this data. According to UNICEF, six weeks of Putin’s war has led to the displacement of 4.5 million children, including more than 2 million children who have crossed into neighboring countries and 2.5 million internally displaced. Furthermore, according to UNICEF, as of April 6, 2022, at least 130 children were killed and 188 injured. The true toll is likely to be much higher and growing as Putin continues to target civilians and civilian objects.

Living in conflict areas does not only involve the risk of death from bullets and bombs. Every year, hundreds of thousands of children die as a result of the indirect effects of conflict, whether through malnutrition, disease, lack of medical care, water or sanitation. Furthermore, children in conflict are often used as child soldiers or suicide bombers because they may be more vulnerable to manipulation. Across many conflicts, girls are turned into child brides or slaves. As we can see in the case of Putin’s war, there is yet another danger that requires further attention: forcible transfer of children and illegal adoptions.

According to Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner, Lyudmila Denysova, more than 121,000 children have been forcibly deported to Russia over recent weeks. This number includes orphaned children and those who have one or both parents. Denysova further added that Russia is “mak[ing] changes to the legislation to organize the accelerated procedure of adoption of children from Donbas.” According to Denysova, “Russia repeats the 2014 scenario when it was taken out of the occupied Crimea of Ukrainian children so-called ‘train of hope’ for their adoption.” Denysova alleges violations of Article 7 of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (“the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents”), Article 21(b) (“inter-country adoption may be considered as an alternative means of child’s care, if the child cannot be placed in a foster or an adoptive family or cannot in any suitable manner be cared for in the child’s country of origin”), and Article 49 of the 1949 Geneva Convention IV (“Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive”).

However, there is yet another aspect that needs to be considered: the practice of forcible transfer of children and illegal adoptions being used as a genocidal method as per Article II(e) of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention) (“forcibly transferring children of the group to another group”). While it may be too early to talk about clear evidence of Putin’s atrocities amounting to the legal definition of genocide, as the allegations of genocide continue to be discussed, the practice of forcible transfer of children and illegal adoptions must be fully considered and addressed.

Unfortunately, perpetrators are rarely held accountable for atrocities committed against children. This is true across all conflicts. As such, among the numerous legal steps taken, by Ukraine and other countries, to investigate and prosecute the crimes perpetrated by Putin, it is crucial that the crimes perpetrated against children are not forgotten. They must be duly investigated and prosecuted, whether as war crimes, crimes against humanity or even genocide. Justice and accountability for crimes against children are crucial to prevent such crimes in the future.