More than 2,400 children, ages 6 to 17, have been taken to 13 facilities across Belarus since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to a Yale University study published Thursday.
Ukraine’s attorney general said in May he was investigating Belarus’ alleged role in the forcible transfer of more than 19,000 identified children from territories under Russian occupation since the outbreak of the conflict, among other things, to Russia.
Ukraine’s attorney general said in May he was investigating Belarus’ alleged role in the forcible transfer of more than 19,000 identified children from territories under Russian occupation since the outbreak of the conflict, among other things, to Russia.
Some experts and organizations estimate that the total number is much higher. The research by the Laboratory for Humanitarian Research at the Yale School of Public Health, funded by the State Department, is the most comprehensive to date regarding the alleged role of Belarus in the Russian resettlement program of Ukrainian children, reports Reuters, which has seen the results of the research.
Russia has previously said it is offering humanitarian aid to those who want to leave Ukraine voluntarily and rejects accusations of war crimes.
The press service of the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights, which oversees the transfer of children from occupied parts of Ukraine, and the Belarusian Foreign Ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the research.
According to the 39-page report, the children were transferred from at least 17 cities in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye. Researchers at Yale state that this is a practice that continues.
Yale found that more than 2,000 children were transferred to the Dubrava Children’s Center in the Minsk region of Belarus from September 2022 to this May, while 392 children were taken to 12 other facilities.
“Belarus is assisting Russia’s systematic efforts to identify, take over, transport and re-educate Ukrainian children. The Russian federal government and the Belarusian regime are working together to coordinate and finance the transfer of children from the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine through Russia to Belarus,” the research states.
The transports to Belarus through Russia were “ultimately coordinated” by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, the document points out.
In March, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president, who, along with Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, was accused of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.
Transferring children under the age of 18 across the border, without the consent of parents or guardians, is prohibited by international humanitarian law.
Ukrainian war crimes prosecutors said they were investigating the deportations as potential genocide.
The Genocide Convention – adopted by the United Nations General Assembly after the Holocaust – lists five specific acts that could constitute a crime if they have genocidal intent, including the forced deportation of children from their own groups.
The children, who were transferred to Belarus, were subjected to military training and re-education, and Lukashenko approved the use of state organizations to transport children from Ukraine to Belarus and to finance the venture, according to a report by an American university.
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