(C) U.S. State Dept
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New Sanctions Reinforce U.S. Efforts to Ensure Justice for Ukraine’s Children [1]
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Date: 2024-08
On August 23, ahead of Ukraine’s Independence Day, the Department of State announced new sanctions on nearly 400 entities and individuals that enable the Kremlin to wage its illegal war against Ukraine. Among the targets are two entities and 11 individuals who have been involved in the forcible transfer and deportation of Ukraine’s children to camps promoting indoctrination in Russia and Russia-occupied Crimea and who have imposed Russian indoctrination curriculums in those regions of Ukraine.
Additionally, the Department of State is taking steps to impose visa restrictions on three Russia-installed officials for their involvement in human rights abuses of Ukrainian civilian minors, in connection with the forced deportation, transfer, and confinement of Ukraine’s children.
Russia’s brutal war of aggression has brought unrelenting devastation to the children of Ukraine: the grim specter of death and injury from Russia’s bombing of critical infrastructure, the loss of loved ones and community ties, forced displacement, and disrupted educational activities and life paths.
Thousands of children affected
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, the United Nations’ Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has recorded over 2,000 child deaths or injuries and almost 2,000 destroyed and damaged educational and health facilities. As at May 2024, Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General had recorded 3,813 alleged war crimes affecting children, not including cases of sexual violence. The actual numbers are likely much higher and will only increase as Russia continues its relentless assault against Ukraine’s civilian population.
Of particular note are the tens of thousands of children who have been illegally deported from Ukraine or forcibly transferred from Ukraine’s occupied territories into Russia and Belarus, where all trace of them is often lost. In many cases, they are taken in groups from care homes, separated from their parents during “filtration” operations on the frontlines, or spirited away to so-called summer camps under the guise of “humanitarian rescue.”
Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General had recorded 3,813 alleged war crimes affecting children, not including cases of sexual violence. Beth Van Schaack Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice
These children are too often given Russian names and passports, subjected to systematic Russian “military-patriotic” indoctrination programs, punished for speaking Ukrainian, told lies about the fates of their families and communities, and even placed up for adoption into Russian families.
Despite fervent efforts to identify, locate, and return these missing children, Russia remains intransigent and unrepentant. Only a heartbreakingly few children have made it home. The war crimes of unlawful deportation and unlawful transfer of children serve as the basis for arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Vladimir Putin and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.
Some taken to Belarus
There is evidence that the Lukashenka regime in Belarus is complicit in these crimes. In December 2023, the Ukraine Conflict Observatory — a program supported by the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations in partnership with Yale University School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab — described Belarus’s direct support for Russia’s systematic forced deportation campaign. At the time of publication, the Conflict Observatory had documented at least 2,442 Ukrainian children aged six to 17 who were taken to Belarus.
As similar evidence continues to mount, it points to the conclusion that Belarus is working hand-in-hand with Russia to identify children, steal them away from their homes and communities, and force them to renounce their cultural heritage and very identities.
In coordination with Ukraine and other partners, the United States is committed to holding Russia and Belarus to account for violations of international humanitarian law, including those involving children. These latest sanctions are another important step, which we announce while continuing our support for pathways to justice for the children affected by Russia’s abuses and atrocities.
We will continue to support Ukraine’s investigations and prosecutions through the U.S.-EU-UK Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group for Ukraine, while also supporting international investigations and those taken up by national authorities outside of Ukraine.
Global approach to help Ukraine’s children
In 2022, with support of the Biden-Harris administration, Congress amended the War Crimes Statute to enable cases in U.S. courts if perpetrators are found here. Together, these pathways make up a complementary, reinforcing web of justice.
Additionally, in March 2024, the United States was proud to join the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children as a member state to support the safe return of all Ukrainian children who have been unlawfully deported or forcibly transferred by Russia and to promote accountability for those responsible. Together, these efforts make up a complementary, mutually reinforcing web of justice – and we will work with partners to ensure that all are victim-centered, trauma-informed, and child-friendly.
Justice and healing for the children of Ukraine demands an enduring commitment to rebuilding their shattered lives, ensuring they have safe spaces to learn and grow, and giving them opportunities to help shape Ukraine’s future. Ukraine’s future lies not only on the battlefield or in banks holding seized Russian assets, but in the wellbeing of its children.
By attacking Ukraine’s children, Russia seeks to destroy the very fabric of Ukrainian society, robbing the nation of its most precious resource: its next generation. We must meet this sinister attempt with unwavering resolve, united in our commitment to safeguard the rights and dignity of Ukraine’s children.
The war in Ukraine is a sobering reminder of the atrocities faced by children in conflict zones worldwide, and history warns us that children’s unique needs are often marginalized during and after war. The international community must heed this lesson, offering support and solidarity to all children everywhere who face violence and oppression. Let us send a powerful message to perpetrators everywhere: their crimes will not go unpunished and their most vulnerable victims will not be forgotten.
About the Author: Beth Van Schaack is Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice at the U.S. Department of State.
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[1] Url:
https://www.state.gov/new-sanctions-reinforce-u-s-efforts-to-ensure-justice-for-ukraines-children/
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