Representatives of Zimbabwe, India, Qatar, China, Cuba, Mongolia, UAE, Russia, Syria and Palestine met with 44 deported Ukrainian children from Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk in Belarus.
This was reported by the lawyer of the Regional Center for Human Rights, Kateryna Rashevska.
Officials from Belarus, the Union State and the CIS also joined the meeting. Other states boycotted the event as it does not correspond to the principle of the best interests of the child and aims to justify international wrongful actions, the human rights activist writes.
The children were seated at the table for the press conference and asked about the conditions of their stay. The event took place when the period of stay of these children in Belarus ends.
Facebook / Катерина Рашевська
According to Rashevska, the first secretary of the Russian Embassy in Belarus, Karina Bagiyeva, testified that Russian citizenship is imposed on Ukrainian children and education is organized for them, which does not allow them to preserve their national identity. Baghieva also indicated that the Naftan oil refinery was involved in the removal of the children.
Qatarʼs Chargé dʼaffaires Abdulaiz al-Kuvari said at the meeting that Belarusian families are taking in Ukrainian children, and expressed hope that "even more children will be able to leave Donbas."
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated before this event that Belarus wants to cover itself with international representatives in order to legalize the deportation of children. Ukraine asked foreign countries not to take part in this and reminded that, according to international law, the deportation of children is a war crime.
- The deportation of Ukrainian children is one of Russiaʼs war crimes, for which the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Putin and the childrenʼs ombudsman of the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova. Currently, it is known about the forced deportation of at least 19,453 Ukrainian children to Russia. Ukraine also has evidence that Belarus participates in the deportation of Ukrainian children. In addition, Russia is illegally holding approximately 27,000 Ukrainian civilian hostages.