Global consensus on need to focus on the child’s right to identity
Reports and research – such as that carried out by Yale University – confirm that a significant number of Ukrainian children have been and are being indefinitely separated from their parents, often to be “re-homed” in Russia including through adoption and foster care. While, we welcome the small number of children that have been reunified with their families, further efforts are necessary to ensure that all deported children are returned to Ukraine and able to enjoy all their rights in particular through family reunification whenever possible.
Child Identity Protection (CHIP) supports the priority given by the ICC Prosecutor to the illegal deportation and transfer of children to the Russian Federation by issuing a warrant of arrest in that connection against the President of the Russian Federation and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in his office. As the Prosecutor stated when he addressed the UN Security Council in the autumn of 2022: “children should not be considered the spoils of war.” To ensure truth and access to justice, CHIP encourages the robust collection of all available evidence, including of affected families and residential care institutions, through mechanisms such as those provided by the International Court of Justice and EuroJust.
In a similar vein, the recent Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine (UN doc. A/HRC/52/62) also focuses on that issue. The Report explicitly mentions its link to the violation of children’s right to identity, referencing Article 8(1) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC):
- The Commission has concluded that the situations it has examined concerning the transfer and deportation of children, within Ukraine and to the Russian Federation respectively, violate international humanitarian law, and amount to a war crime. It has found that Russian authorities violated their obligation under international humanitarian law to facilitate in every possible way the reunion of families dispersed as a result of the armed conflict. Such conduct may also amount to the war crime of unjustifiable delay in the repatriation of civilians. In addition, the citizenship and family placement measures which may have a profound implication on a child’s identity are in violation of the right of a child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations without unlawful interference, as recognised by international human rights law.
In accordance with CRC Article 8, CHIP recalls the importance of the systematic preservation and, as appropriate, the speedy re-establishment of the child’s identity in family relations of all affected persons, in all situations where there are missing and/or falsified elements, in particular to facilitate possible reunification with their families.
https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and ; https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-prosecutor-karim-khan-kc-issuance-arrest-warrants-against-president-vladimir-putin ; https://uncc.ch/home ; https://hub.conflictobservatory.org/portal/sharing/rest/content/items/97f919ccfe524d31a241b53ca44076b8/data; https://www.eurojust.europa.eu/eurojust-and-the-war-in-ukraine ; https://www.brusselstimes.com/news/424170/eu-to-organise-conference-on-children-abducted-by-russia?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=LinkedIn#Echobox=1679610713; https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/ukraine-and-international-criminal-court-sign-agreement-establishment-country-office
