UNITED NATIONS, March 31. /TASS/. The evacuation of children from the combat zone in Donbass and Ukraine proceeds in full compliance with international humanitarian law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya told TASS in an exclusive interview in connection with the start of Russia's presidency in the UN Security Council in April.
On April 6, Russia intends to hold an informal meeting of the UN Security Council in the ‘Arria formula’ for evacuating children from the combat zone in Donbass and Ukraine.
"The ‘Arria formula’ meeting is designed to bring to the international community first-hand information about evacuated children from the war zone in Donbas and Ukraine and dispel the false narrative spread by the Western media about the alleged ‘abductions’ of children from Ukraine and attempts to ‘destroy their identity’. I would like to emphasize once again that we are talking about evacuation from the war zone in full compliance with the obligations under International Humanitarian Law, as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Obviously, according to the logic of the collective West, children, in particular, orphans, are better left in the war zone," he said.
Nebenzya pointed out that millions of people have been evacuated in such way from the beginning of the special military operation up to the moment. Among them were children, who in the vast majority of cases arrived in Russian territory with their parents, guardians and custodians. "Only a small number of evacuated children were in institutions for orphans and children left without parental care. Children who were pupils of institutions located within the administrative boundaries of the DPR (the Donetsk People’s Republic - TASS) and LPR (the Lugansk People’s Republic - TASS) at the time of recognition of their independence by the Russian Federation were transferred under guardianship," he continued, "Children who were pupils of institutions located within the administrative boundaries of the DPR and LPR at the time of recognition of their independence by the Russian Federation were transferred under guardianship. Primary attention was paid to the placement of minors in the families of blood relatives living in Russia."
Main goal is to keep children in families, not orphanages
The Russian envoy to the UN stressed that "the Westerners' use of the term ‘adoption’ in this context is deliberately misleading". "In reality, we are talking about temporary preliminary guardianship or temporary guardianship. The main goal is for children to be in families, not orphanages. This form was chosen specifically taking into account the potential reunification of minors with their blood relatives, if any are found," he said.
The diplomat said that Russia did not prevent children from maintaining contacts and communication with their relatives and loved ones, regardless of their place of residence. "To simplify the reunification process, parents can seek help in finding their child directly from the office of the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights," Nebenzya added, "To this day, with the participation of the Commissioner for Children's Rights, 15 children from eight families have already been reunited with their relative."
"We held a number of meetings with representatives of the Regional Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, who also decided to facilitate the reunification of children with parents outside the Russian Federation and Ukraine (in Poland, Portugal and Norway), within the framework of the organization's mandate," the Russian Permanent Representative to the UN concluded.
The full text of the interview is available at: https://tass.com/politics/1596965