The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has officially begun examining a case concerning Russia's unlawful adoption of Ukrainian children taken from Crimea following the occupation of the peninsula in 2014.

Source: Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea

Details: According to the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, the case concerns 10 children aged between one and five who were under state guardianship in specialised institutions at the time of the occupation of Crimea. After seizing the peninsula, the Russian authorities refused to bring the children back to Ukraine, failed to inform about their whereabouts and later the profiles of these children appeared on Russian adoption websites.

Human rights activists noted that information about some of the children had disappeared from public sources, which may indicate that they have been adopted by Russian citizens. The Russian authorities declared over 4,000 Ukrainian children from Crimea who lacked parental care as Russian citizens in 2014.

Quote: "The application to the Court is based on several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, including the right to respect for private life, liberty, and personal security. The arbitrary change of citizenship and subsequent adoptions are seen as actions that stripped the children of their Ukrainian social identity. Additionally, their continued placement in institutions under Russian control is considered a violation of their rights."

Details: The ECHR notified the Russian government of case No. 6719/23 and requested official comments, which must be submitted by 31 July 2025.

Background:During a speech at the UN Security Council in December 2024, Dariia Zarivna, Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President, reported that Maria Lvova-Belova, Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights, had boasted about having "resettled" over 700,000 Ukrainian children in Russia.

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