Orphaned children from Ukraine are brought to Belarus for "recuperation" without the permission of the Ukrainian authorities. Concerts and other events are held in Belarusian camps, where pro-government activists promote hatred for Ukraine and wish Russia would "take control" of it. The head of the People's anti-crisis department and a representative of the United Transition Cabinet Pavel Latushka told "Zerkalo" how the NAU investigates the involvement of the Belarusian authorities and propaganda activists in the removal of Ukrainian children from the Russian-occupied territories
According to Pavel Latushka, a pro-government activist and paralympian, Oleksiy Talai, participated in the removal of Ukrainian children. He traveled to the territories occupied by Russia several times to organize the removal of children. Then there was published the decision of the Union State to organize the arrival of 1,050 children from Ukraine in the Minsk region in execution of the instructions of Putin and Lukashenko. Later, the state media reported that the children were taken to the camp "Dubrava" near Salihorsk, and the project was implemented with the support of the general director of Belaruskali Ivan Golovatoy.
"We have information that 700 children were already on the territory of the Minsk region, and 350 have already arrived and will arrive during April-May," Latushka said.
He drew attention to the words of Dzmitry Shvayba, chairman of the trade union of the chemical industry, who also reported that Ukrainian children were in Salihorsk district, studies were organized for them, and in the future they were even ready to be employed at Belaruskali.
Latushka notes that we are talking about children aged 6-15, orphans or those who lost their breadwinner, and only the authorized body of the country of citizenship of these children, that is, Ukraine, is entitled to grant permission for them to leave. However, Ukraine has not given its consent. According to the politician, this may be a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the removal may be recognized as illegal and treated as a war crime, because Belarus is not a neutral country.
"Moreover, the Ukrainian ombudsman for children's rights has already stated that they have information about the removal of Ukrainian children both to the territory of Russia and Belarus. We were talking about 16 thousand children," Latushko recalled.
According to him, part of the documents confirming the removal of children has already been collected and he intends to submit them to the ICC prosecutor for legal evaluation. Latushko noted that, according to the NAM lawyers, the commission of a crime in this case is obvious. In his opinion, the court in The Hague may issue a warrant for Lukashenko's arrest, as was done with Putin.
— You said that the NAM is preparing documents with evidence of the involvement of representatives of Lukashenko's regime in the illegal removal of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine, in order to pass them to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC). In this connection, there is a question: are we talking about the removal of children to the territory of Belarus allegedly for recuperation or about the assistance of the Belarusian authorities in deporting these children to Russia?
— We are talking about a separate crime of illegally transferring children aged 6 to 15, orphans without guardians, from the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine to Belarus without the consent of the authorities of the latter.
The NAU team prepared a preliminary report on the facts of the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children from the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine to Belarus. We have identified three places where these children were placed on the territory of Belarus. We are talking about both violations of the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949 regarding the specifically protected category of persons in armed conflicts, as well as violations of the Rome Statute, which qualifies these actions as war crimes.
In fact, we have analyzed and collected materials that show the entire scheme of actions of the illegitimate authorities of Belarus to displace Ukrainian children in our country.
— You are talking about the report on the facts of the transfer of Ukrainian children to Belarus. Do I understand correctly that you have evidence of the fact that children were taken to Belarus for permanent residence (and not, as the pro-government activists claim, for temporary rehabilitation)? Does this mean that they are still in Belarus?
— We are talking about the report on the facts of the displacement of Ukrainian children in Belarus. According to the commentary of the International Committee of the Red Cross to Article 45 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, deportation is a type of illegal transfer.
In order to establish that the crime of illegal displacement of the civilian population from the occupied territories has been committed, it is immaterial whether it was done for the purpose of displacing such persons permanently or temporarily. What is important is whether or not such actions are voluntary and fall under the exceptions allowed by the Convention.
In the case of orphans between the ages of 6 and 15, voluntariness does not exist as a phenomenon. The competent authorities of Ukraine remain responsible for their fate.
These actions do not fall under the evacuation exception, as such should be carried out only in cases of extreme military necessity or imminent threat to the life and safety of civilians within the occupied territories, where no such threat exists, such as Crimea. Alternatively, with the consent of the Ukrainian side, such children may be relocated to a neutral state. However, in our case there is no consent of the Ukrainian side, and Belarus is not neutral.
Original material: news.zerkalo.io