Thread by @KidsFromUkraine

A 🧵 summarizing an article by @EuromaidanPress on the abduction of Ukrainian children.

Full article (March 23, 2023) to be found here : euromaidanpress.com/2023/03/22/dep…

#KidsFromUkraine #genocide #WarCrimes >

> Russia is orchestrating massive deportations during its invasion of Ukraine. Today, it’s often disguised as “evacuation” with claims of care for Ukrainians and may involve relocating orphanages and penal facilities, transferring children to camps, and other similar actions. >

> However, they serve the same imperial purpose. By evicting populations on occupied territories and replacing them with Russians, Russia aims to cement its control through uprooting the ethnic composition and social structure of the invaded lands. >
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> The Russian side frequently refers to it as the “evacuation of the civilian population” or the rescue of people, with propaganda channels showcasing videos of Russians providing shelters to Ukrainian families fleeing the conflict. >
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> There is abundant evidence that this is deportation, not a friendly evacuation.

Such actions may be classified as crimes against humanity and/or war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. >
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> As a part of these crimes, Ukrainian citizens are systematically deported by the Russians, with a system of temporary accommodation centers established within the territory of the Russian Federation and a corresponding filtration procedure implemented. >
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> Moreover, Russia adopted several legislative acts to implement this policy.

Reports about the organized displacement of Ukrainian citizens by the Russians from territories occupied after its full-scale invasion started to emerge in March 2022. >
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> The “evacuation” from the territories occupied before the full-scale invasion began even before February 24. And children’s institutions were one of the categories relocated first. >
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> This practice is not new, as the campaign to relocate custodial facilities, such as orphanages and prisons, or their residents had already begun in 2014 in the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. >
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> The exact number of potential victims of deportation from Ukraine to Russia is unknown, but it is estimated that anywhere between 2.8 to 5 million Ukrainians, including from 260,000 to 700,000 children. >
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> According to the UNHCR data, as of 3 October 2022, 2.8 million Ukrainian citizens were transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation, and another 20,900 Ukrainian citizens were in the territory of the Republic of Belarus as of 28 February 2023. >
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> According to the Russian side data, as of December 8, 2022, 5 million people, including more than 700,000 children, arrived in the territory of the Russian Federation from Ukraine. >
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> It is impossible to assess these figures’ reliability and how many citizens were forced to leave under coercion, pressure, and intimidation. But it is evident that deportation is widespread within the overall Russian attack on Ukraine. >
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> Deportation from Ukraine to Russia is often preceded by a “filtration” process, during which individuals are assessed for their allegiance to the Russian Federation and any collaboration with Ukrainian authorities or military forces. >
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> Filtration measures could be divided into three different levels:

1) A quick inspection at checkpoints on the demarcation line or in a particular settlement. (houses, cars, telephones and computers were examined, fingerprints and photos were taken, etc.) >
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> 2) Individuals are taken to filtration centers or camps for inspections and interviews. At these centers, a person may receive a “certificate” confirming they have passed the filtration or may be detained for further examination. >
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> 3) Brutal interrogation and held in custody for extended periods. This happened to volunteer drivers who helped evacuate people out of occupied Mariupol. Some still remain arrested in penal facilities. >
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> Filtration camps were mostly located in the occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. According to a @HRL_YaleSPH report, 21 filtration facilities were identified (*in Ukraine) as of August 2022.

Report: hub.conflictobservatory.org/portal/apps/si…
>
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> It is in the Donetsk Oblast that the massive filtration process began. There, the Russian military closed all opportunities to leave the occupied territory and began to actively check citizens. >
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> Coercion is not limited to physical force, such as when someone is forcibly taken into a car at gunpoint. It also encompasses situations in which people are left with no viable options for where to evacuate. >
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> Other forms of coercion include threats of violence, harassment, detention, psychological manipulation, abuse of power, and creating a panic-inducing atmosphere. Limiting access to - and disseminating false information can also be considered coercion. >
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> Custodial facilities such as orphanages and prisons have become targets of deportation by the Russian Federation. The people held in these facilities are particularly vulnerable. >
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> The Russian Federation purposefully prepared to relocate Ukrainian custodial facilities. In some regions of the Russian Federation, penal facilities were vacated to accommodate prisoners from the occupied territories of Ukraine. >
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> Russia relocated Ukrainian children’s institutions and encouraged the childrens’ subsequent transfer to Russian families. Russia has deprived Ukrainian children of the chance to grow and flourish in their own homeland and to return to their families. >
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> The relocation of children’s institutions to the RF began even before the full-scale invasion of 24 February 2022 on the Ukrainian territories that Russia occupied before that. After the full-fledged invasion started, this process became massive. >
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> Its organization was not complicated: the infrastructure had already been formed over a long period of time.

Another method of transferring children from Ukraine is sending them to children’s camps for “resting,” a common practice in Ukraine and Russia. >
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> The Russian side uses the vulnerable state of the parents, their desire to protect their children from shelling, and the difficulties of life under the occupation, misleading them about the nature and duration of such “recreational activities.” >
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> Following the end of each camp shift, Russia typically fails to return the children to their parents, extending their stay on various pretexts, such as the risk of shelling or due to their pro-Ukrainian views. >
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> Camps are also used for “re-education.” During their stay in the camps, the children are offered training and a cultural program based on Russian propaganda. Since last autumn, they have been studying according to Russian education standards. >
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> False information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is imposed on the children, as well as “patriotic education,” accompanied by the militarization of education.

All these measures are carried out with full support from the political leadership of the RF. >
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> IF DEPORTATION IS A WAR CRIME AND A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY, THEN WHEN IT COMES TO CHILDREN, THEIR TRANSFER TO AN AGRESSOR STATE HAS THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GENOCIDAL CRIME. >
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> The Ukrainian identity of children is being destroyed due to immersion in the Russian education system, placing children under the care or guardianship of Russian families instead of finding their relatives in Ukraine. >
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> The Russian adoption procedure itself provides for the closure of information about a child, and new parents can change their personal data. Ukraine will hardly ever be able to find and return the kidnapped children. >
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> The ICC in The Hague is also investigating the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to the territory of the RF, and an arrest warrant has been issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Lvova-Belova. >
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> The ICC alleges that both individuals are responsible for committing war crimes, specifically the unlawful deportation and transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. >
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euromaidanpress.com/2023/03/18/icc…

> Again, this thread is just a summary of the article by @EuromaidanPress The full article can be found here: euromaidanpress.com/2023/03/22/dep…
>
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> For more information on this subject, please read the report by @HRL_YaleSPH ⬇️

Thank you for your attention.
~ #KidsFromUkraine team

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