Are Ukrainian children being illegally brought to Belarus?

Deutsche Welle

Publish : 29 Apr 2023, 07:45 PM

It's alleged that children in Russian-occupied Ukraine are being brought to Russia and Belarus against their will. Authorities there say the children are merely recovering abroad.

"We are seeing how children from Ukraine are brought to Belarus and Russia with the support of [Belarusian strongman Alexander] Lukashenko," Belarusian opposition politician Pavel Latushko told. Due to threats from Lukashenko, Latushko now lives Polish exile. In March of this year, a court in Belarus sentenced him to 18 years in prison in absentia.

According to the EU and the Ukrainian president's commissioner for children's rights, Daria Herasymchuk, more than 16,000 children are believed to have been deported so far from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, some of them from orphanages. In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the alleged abduction of Ukrainian children.

Bringing Ukrainian minors to Belarus also violates the 1949 Geneva Convention, says Latushko. He stresses that Belarus allowed Russia to attack neighboring Ukraine from its territory, which is why he says it cannot be considered a "neutral state." These developments prompted Latushko to collect evidence that he intends to submit to the prosecutor general of Ukraine and the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

Belarusian state media are reporting on the presence of Ukrainian children in the country. "The propagandists say the children are brought to Belarus to recover. But is it possible a six-year-old child will independently decide to leave his or her country, Ukraine? No, it is not," Latushko said. It would be different if families left voluntarily or if there was permission from the Ukrainian authorities. But this is not the case, he said.

Aiding children of the Donbass?

There are special projects within the Union State of Belarus and Russia aimed at bringing Ukrainian minors aged six to 15 to Belarus, says Latushko. He says these projects were initiated by Putin and Lukashenko. A decision was reached in September 16, 2022, for example, to "aid the children of the Donbass" and transport of 1,050 minors to Belarus.

Financial support for these projects is provided by Belaruskali, a state enterprise and one of the largest potash fertilizer producers in the world. "The money is sent to [national Paralympic swimmer] Alexey Talai's foundation, based on Ukrainian territory, which organizes the transport of the children," Latushko says. Children are also brought to Belarus by the Belarusian Orthodox Church, which is part of the Moscow Patriarchate, he said.

In October 2022, state secretary of the Russian-Belarusian Union State Dmitry Mtsentsev visited the "Dubrava" children's camp near Minsk, which is owned by Belaruskali. He said that "tens of millions of rubles have been allocated to the project" and that the work would continue. "We were happy to support the children's trip to Belarus via Rostov," Mtsentsev said. He added that the aim was to help the children "forget their difficult experiences and realize their dreams" so that they can become "dependable citizens of their country."

Who is Alexej Talaj?

The Talai Charitable Foundation plans to bring over 1,000 Ukrainian children to Belarus in April and May. DW asked Alexey Talai, who heads the foundation, to explain his organization's role in facilitating the transport, yet received no reply. Talai, who is also an entrepreneur regularly takes parts in events supporting Lukashenko. In response to Latushko's accusations, Talai wrote on his Telegram channel that "not even The Hague will prevent us from doing charity work and continuing to help the children of the Donbass."

In April, Talai visited the more than 300 Ukrainian minors at the "Dubrava" camp. There, he handed out ribbons in the colors of the Russian and Belarusian flags, among other things. The institution was also visited by pro-government political scientist Alexander Shpakovsky, the first secretary of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union Alexander Lukyanov, and members of the militarist "Rodnik" club.

Latushko said that raising children to hold anti-Ukrainian sentiments can be called a war crime according to international law. He added that Dmitry Shvayba, who heads Minsk's trade union association of miners and chemists, admitted that Belarus wants to allow Ukrainian children attend vocational schools and then take a job. "So they are bringing potential workers to Belarus."

How have Ukraine and UNICEF responded?

The former Ukrainian president's commissioner for children's rights, Mykola Kuleba, who today heads the Save Ukraine Foundation, said on TV channel Belsat that Ukraine does not yet have evidence of children being transported to Belarus. He said that an investigation into this was necessary. He did not rule out an arrest warrant would be issued for Alexander Lukashenko and others if sufficient evidence had been gathered. Even shuttling children back and forth between Ukraine and Belarus could count as a war crime, Kuleba said.

Aaron Greenberg, regional advisor for Europe and Central Asia, child protection at UNICEF, said his organization is "aware of reports that some Ukrainian children have been moved from Russian Federation to Belarus for short periods of time. We continue to be deeply concerned about reports of evacuations of children that take place without adequate safeguards, hasty returns of children from places of relocation that don't consider children's best interests."

UNICEF is also concerned about " expedited procedures for changing or adding nationality, which are unnecessary to protect children and should not occur during an emergency."

Follow google news channel to get RTV news Google News

Related More News

China population: reluctance to marry, have kids continued in 2022 as demographic woes deepened

Willingness to get married and have children continued to fall in China last year, with a significant drop also seen in the interest to raise a second child, an official yearbook on population and employment statistics for 2022 showed. Over 51 per cent of people aged between 25 and 29 in China remained single in 2022, up from 48.7 per cent for the previous year, the 2023 China Population and Employment Statistical Yearbook showed. The unmarried rate for the thirty-something age group also rose mildly, according to data based on a sample survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in November 2022. Meanwhile, the annual fertility rate for women of childbearing age – the number of births for every 1,000 women aged between 15 and 49 – dropped from 31.27 in 2021 to 30.22 in 2022, the survey showed. The fall in China’s fertility rate was largely caused by a plunge in the number of babies born as a second child, which slumped from 13.48 to 9.58 per 1,000 women, according to the yearbook. Authorities have issued a series of incentives to encourage couples to have bigger families over the years after China introduced a three-child policy in May 2021 having officially ended its one-child policy in January 2016. Reasons for the growing reluctance to get married and have children include the high cost of starting a family and pursuit of diversity and individuality. It underscores the demographic pressure China is facing as its population shrinks and grows older, which threatens long-term economic development. Source: South China Morning Post

Tibetans in quake-hit areas get scarce aid from Chinese government

Tibetans in earthquake-affected areas of China’s Qinghai Province have received scarce help from the Chinese government, except for “some tent facilities” and utilities checks for those whose homes were destroyed by a December earthquake, at least three sources inside the country told Radio Free Asia. A magnitude 6.2 earthquake rocked the northwestern Chinese provinces of Qinghai and Gansu on Dec. 18 — one of the most powerful earthquakes the country has seen in recent years — killing at least 149 people and injuring over 780 others. The earthquake brought down buildings across Jishishan county and Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu — the worst hit province — as well as in parts of neighboring Qinghai, a province on the Tibetan plateau. The affected areas in Qinghai are mainly populated by Tibetans. In the absence of adequate aid from the Chinese government, Tibetans in other parts of Chinese-occupied Tibet as well as Tibetan lay and monastic communities have sent funds and supplies to those displaced by the quake, said the sources, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons. “Other than laying a few tents three days after the quake, the Chinese government did not provide any special assistance or aid, but many Tibetan individuals, organizations, and monasteries from all over Tibet have volunteered help with funds and relief materials, so we have not faced any immediate difficulties,” at least two sources told RFA. Another source noted that more than a week after the earthquake, Chinese authorities had conducted checks to see if water and electricity supplies were flowing but that no other aid or housing and relocation facilities had been provided. China’s local housing and urban-rural development bureau, however, said it is building 15,000 prefabricated houses in Gansu for quake-affected people and estimates they will be completed by the end of December, Chinese state media reported.

North Korea plans to launch three satellites in 2024

Pyongyang has carried out a record amount of missile tests this year. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that it was a "mistake" to try to reunify with Seoul and warned of the risk of "war" in the peninsula. North Korea plans to launch three satellites in 2024, state media reported on Sunday. Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that it is a "mistake" to pursue unification with the south. Pyongyang announces satellite plan at party meeting "The task of launching three additional reconnaissance satellites in 2024 was declared" as one of the key policy decisions for 2024 at a party meeting, the KCNA news agency said. The meeting lasted for five days and was attended by Kim. North Korea has carried out a record number of weapons tests in 2023 and aims to increase its military capabilities. This month, it launched its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea also announced plans to build unmanned drones and develop electronic warfare capabilities, as well as to strengthen nuclear and missile forces. Japan, South Korea and Washington have stepped up cooperation in reaction to Pyongyang's increased missile tests. The three countries have recently activated a system to share real-time data on North Korean missile launches. North Korea has previously described Washington's participation in joint drills on the Korean peninsula as a "provocation." Kim dismisses unification with south, warns of 'war' North Korea's leader said that Pyongyang would no longer seek unification with Seoul. "I believe that it is a mistake that we should no longer make to consider the people who declare us as the 'main enemy'... as someone to seek reconciliation and unification with," Kim was cited by KCNA as saying. "Because of reckless moves by the enemies to invade us, it is a fait accompli that a war can break out at any time on the Korean peninsula," he said. He accused Washington of posing "various types of military threat" and ordered North Korea's military to maintain "overwhelming war response capability." "We must respond quickly to a possible nuclear crisis and continue to accelerate preparations to pacify the entire territory of South Korea by mobilising all physical means and forces, including nuclear force, in case of emergency," he said. "If we look closely at the confrontational military actions by the enemy forces .... the word 'war' has become a realistic reality and not an abstract concept," Kim said. He said that South Korea had been transformed into a "forward military base and nuclear arsenal" of the United States.

Venice bans large tourist groups

Venice officials are imposing new rules on groups of visitors coming to the popular lagoon city, aiming to curb negative effects of mass tourism. The city of Venice will ban tourist groups consisting of more than 25 people and will outlaw loudspeakers — which can "generate confusion and disturbances" — on such tours, the city council decided on Saturday. The new rules also prevent stopping at narrow streets, bridges or places of passage. They are set to take effect on June 1. The changes are part of the authorities' effort to limit mass tourism and its negative effects on the northern Italian lagoon city. The rules apply to the city center and the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello. They are aimed to protect residents from noise and nuisance, the cuty council said in a press release. Mass tourism has been causing problems for Venice — one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world — for many years. The historic center with the famous Piazza San Marco, the Rialto Bridge and the many canals no longer has even 50,000 permanent residents. On some days during the high season, visitors outnumber the locals by more than two to one. In September, local officials decided to charge an admission fee of €5 ($5.50) for short-term visitors from April 2024. In a report published in summer 2023, the UN cultural agency UNESCO pointed at over-tourism and over-development as some of the major threats to the Italian hotspot, with a growing number voices calling for the city to be placed on UNESCO's list of heritage sites in danger. Restricting tour groups to less than 25 people and the ban on loudspeakers will contribute to sustainable tourism, said Elisabetta Pesce, Venice's city councilor for security.

Emboldened Iran silences critics as world looks elsewhere

In the shadow of the Israel-Gaza war Iran's rulers are settling scores with internal critics. Women who refuse to wear the headscarf are being severely punished, activists are persecuted and prisoners have been executed. As least 690 prisoners were executed in Iran in 2023, as of December 1, according to the human rights organizations Center for Human Rights in Iran and the Oslo-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, whose data was based on official Iranian statistics. However, rights organizations believe a considerable number of unreported executions have been carried out hidden from the public eye and often only come to light years later, when bereaved relatives have the courage to speak out. "The world is distracted by the Gaza war. The Islamic Republic of Iran is taking maximum advantage of this situation to crack down on its critics, especially with executions that I would characterize as state murder for revenge, and to intimidate society through violence," Saeid Dehghan, an Iranian human rights activist, told DW. Dehghan, who has lived in Canada since 2022, has founded a worldwide network of Iranian lawyers. He heads a legal center called Parsi Law, which provides legal advice to people in Iran. The center also supports international organizations, such as UN bodies, in their efforts to improve human rights in Iran. "The sad reality is that as soon as the streets in Iran are emptied of protesters, the country is forgotten and the global community returns to business as usual with the Islamic Republic," said Dehghan. "Human rights activists understand that every country worldwide pursues its own interests. Nevertheless, the massive oppression in Iran must not be ignored. Especially not by politicians in Western countries, where human rights are one of the fundamental principles of politics," he added. Iran cracks down on women's rights movement At least eight people who were arrested during nationwide women's rights demonstrations under the slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom" have been sentenced to death in sham trials and executed in recent months. One of them was 21-year-old Milad Zohrevand. On November 30, he was executed without warning, and without the opportunity to say goodbye to his family. According to human rights activists, Zohrevand was not allowed access to a lawyer or family visits during his imprisonment. "Slaughter and killing do not only happen in war," wrote imprisoned Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi in a letter to UN Human Rights Commission. In this open letter, which Mohammadi's husband shared with DW, she asks the UN human rights commissioner to take urgent, decisive and swift action to stop executions in Iran. "In this world where everything is globalized, is humanity an exception? Is it enough to make a statement on paper? Is the global will to stop the unsafe and widespread executions in Iran's cities paralyzed by empty and baseless excuses?" Mohammadi wrote. Since December 3, Iranian authorities have cut off all of Mohammadi's connections with the outside world. She is not allowed to make phone calls or receive visitors. Her voice, and that of other critics, has been silenced. On December 2, Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi was arrested several days after being released from prison. The judiciary justified the arrest with statements he made in a video allegedly "spreading lies and violation of public opinion." The musician had posted a video sharing details of how he had been arrested and harassed. Salehi was initially arrested for showing solidarity with the nationwide women's rights protests in the fall of 2022, and was later sentenced to six years in prison. No space for free speech in Iran Journalists and media professionals in Iran are under enormous pressure not to publish any critical articles. At the end of November, the public prosecutor's office in Tehran took legal action against the newspaper Etemad, which is cautiously critical of the government. The newspaper had published a secret document showing an excerpt from a ministerial directive for "arrests" and "other measures" against women who refuse to wear the obligatory headscarf in public. According to the document, the duties of Iran's "morality police" include taking photos and videos of women to ensure dress code compliance in the "metro areas," including "inside the wagons." The newspaper published this document after Iran's interior minister claimed on November 22 that female morality watchdogs are citizens who want to "fulfill their religious duties and prohibit evil." The last victim of this ostensible religious sense of duty was a 16-year-old schoolgirl, who was on her way to school at the beginning of October and wasn't wearing a headscarf. According to a source who spoke with the British newspaper The Guardian, she was attacked by a morality police officer on the subway. Instead of going to school that day, she fell into a coma and was taken to hospital. She later died and was buried at the end of October.