According to a Yale University study, more than 2,400 Ukrainian children between the ages of six and 17 have been relocated to 13 facilities in Belarus since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Ukraine’s prosecutor general is investigating the alleged involvement of Belarus in the forced transfer of over 19,000 identified children from Russian-occupied territories, including to Russia. Though some experts and organizations believe the actual number to be higher.
The Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health, which receives U.S. State Dept. funding, conducted extensive research on the alleged role of Belarus in the Russian relocation program for Ukrainian children. Their findings are the most comprehensive to date.
Russia claims it is offering humanitarian aid to those wishing to flee Ukraine voluntarily and denies accusations of war crimes. Both Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner and Belarus’ foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the research.
The report details that children were transported from at least 17 cities in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, and that over 2,000 children were taken to the Dubrava children’s center in Belarus’ Minsk region between September 2022 and May 2023, while 392 children were taken to 12 other facilities.
The report accuses Russia and Belarus of coordinating and funding the movement of children from Russia-occupied Ukraine through Russia to Belarus. The transportation of children across borders without the consent of a parent or guardian is prohibited under international humanitarian law and is being investigated by Ukraine’s war crimes prosecutors as potential genocide.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him and Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. The Genocide Convention specifies that forcibly transferring children out of their group constitutes a war crime if committed with genocidal intent.
The Yale report also states that once in Belarus, children have been subjected to military training and re-education, and that the Belarusian leader Lukashenko approved the use of state organizations to transport children from Ukraine to Belarus and finance their transportation.
The fate of the children identified by Yale’s research remains unclear. Ukraine’s foreign ministry and the office of the prosecutor general have not responded to requests for comment on the matter.
(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Alexandra Hudson)
