Child rights violations for refugees and those born through surrogacy

The risks for children in Ukraine are increasing every day, as, as mentioned by UNICEF, some 1.5 million children have now left the country, at a rate of just under one per second, since the Russian invasion began on 24 February. “Every day, over the past 20 days, in Ukraine more than 70,000 children have become refugees. That’s every minute, 55 children fleeing the country,” said James Elder, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Highlighting that nine in 10 of those leaving Ukraine are women and children, Mr. Elder warned that youngsters are prey to traffickers, as they arrive in unfamiliar new surroundings. Two articles describe the reality of six women who take care of about twenty newborns in a bunker, without parents or nationality. These children, born to surrogate mothers just before or after the start of the war, never saw the light of day. These articles focus on the vulnerability of children born of international surrogacy and the risks they face, particularly with regard to the right to identity. CHIP is extremely preoccupied by the risks run these children without a family or separated from their families and vulnerable to all sorts of rights violations, including sale, traffic and lack of preservation of their identity.

Sources: https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/war-ukraine-pose-immediate-threat-children; https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unaccompanied-and-separated-children-fleeing-escalating-conflict-ukraine-must-be; https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113942; https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/guerre-en-ukraine-a-kiev-dans-le-bunker-des-bebes-sans-parents-20220320; https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-60764100; https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60824936 and https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/mar/10/will-the-babies-be-left-in-a-war-zone-the-terrified-ukrainian-surrogates-and-the-parents-waiting-for-their-children