GENEVA, September 19. /TASS/. Countries should adopt legal and regulatory safeguards to ensure that organizations respect and protect children’s privacy, UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell told TASS when asked to comment on the inclusion of a five-year-old Russian child and several 11-year-olds in the database of the Ukrainian extremist website Mirotvorets (Peacemaker).
"The UN Human Rights Office has previously reported about the Mirotvorets website, which publishes the personal data of individuals allegedly involved in illegal activity, and noted that this violates the presumption of innocence and the right to privacy," she recalled.
Throssell emphasized that "privacy is vital to children’s agency, dignity and safety and for the exercise of their rights." According to her, "states should take legal and administrative measures to ensure that children’s privacy is respected and protected by all organizations."
On September 11, TASS reported that a five-year-old from Russia, along with several 11-year-old children, had been added to Mirotvorets for allegedly attempting to undermine Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. In the past, minors as young as four and up to 17 years old have also appeared in the database.
Launched in 2014, Mirotvorets describes its mission as exposing individuals deemed a threat to Ukraine’s national security. Over the years, journalists, artists, and politicians who visited Crimea, Donbass, or otherwise fell afoul of the website’s administrators have likewise found themselves blacklisted.