UN frowns at suffering of Ukrainian children in Russia hands

The United Nations Human Rights Office on Friday condemned what it called unimaginable suffering of millions of Ukrainian children in the hands of Russia, accusing it of violating their rights since its full scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.

Thr UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said the rights of the Ukrainian children have been undermined in every aspect of life, leaving deep scars, both physically and psychosocially.

The Russian Mission in Geneva has not responded at the time of filing this report.

“In the four regions of Ukraine that were illegally annexed by the Russian Federation in 2022, children have been particularly affected by violations of international human rights law…including summary executions, arbitrary detention, conflict-related sexual violence, torture and ill-treatment”, UN report said.

It was gathered that five boys and two girls were summarily executed in 2022 and 2023, with the report noting that the wilful killing of civilians was a war crime and a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions.

Some children had to take part in military-patriotic training, including singing the Russian anthem, and to follow the Russian school curriculum – in violation of international humanitarian law.

According to the report, the transfer of no fewer than 200 children within Russian occupied territory and to Russia between February 2022 and December 2024 may amount to war crimes.

Previously Moscow said it had been protecting vulnerable children from a war zone.

Ukraine has called the abductions of tens of thousands of its children taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians a war crime that meets the UN treaty definition of genocide.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova related to the abduction of Ukrainian children. Russia denounced the warrants as outrageous and unacceptable.