©picture alliance / Chris Emil Janßen | Chris Emil Janssen
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses Russia of using abducted Ukrainian children as child soldiers in the war. In an interview with U.S. broadcaster CBS, he says there's evidence of minors being sent to the front line. The use of child soldiers is prohibited under international humanitarian law.
According to Zelensky, at least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted and transferred to Russia since the beginning of the war. About 2,200 of them are said to have returned home in the meantime. How many deported children may have been sent to the battlefield is not known.
Russification
Two weeks ago, the European Union also imposed new sanctions on 16 individuals and seven institutions for their role in Russia's forced deportation of Ukrainian children. Nearly 20,500 children are estimated to have been unlawfully transferred to Russia since the war began in 2022. The abductions of the children are structurally done by Russia with the aim of erasing their Ukrainian identity through indoctrination and forced adoption.
Erasing Ukrainian identity
EU foreign ministers have imposed new sanctions on 16 individuals and seven institutions involved in the abduction of Ukrainian children. This is due to the fact that these actions seriously violate international law and fundamental children's rights. This was cited by ministers in a joint communiqué. The abductions are designed to erase Ukrainian identity and undermine future Ukrainian generations. The European sanctions freeze their assets in the EU and prohibit EU citizens and companies from supporting them financially. The 16 individuals are also banned from entering and crossing the EU.
Arrest warrant issued against Putin at International Criminal Court
Russia is deporting children from occupied territories to erase their Ukrainian identity. They do this through programs full of pro-Russian propaganda, patriotic events and military training. These programs are often organized by federal state institutions affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Education.
On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights. Both are held responsible for war crimes. They are accused of the illegal deportation and transfer of (mostly) Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia, starting, at the very least, from February 24, 2022. This falls under Articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute, specifically unlawful deportation and transfer of the population (children). The ICC does not explicitly qualify this as genocide, but as serious violations of children's rights and international humanitarian law. To date, only about 2,100 children have returned from Russia. Tens of thousands remain missing or detained.
©picture alliance / Chris Emil Janßen | Chris Emil Janssen