Europol and partners track down 45 forcibly transferred Ukrainian children

On 16 and 17 April, Europol, together with the Netherlands, hosted an event to identify and trace children forcibly transferred or deported to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. In total, information about 45 children was uncovered and shared with Ukrainian authorities to assist their ongoing investigations.

This initiative saw 40 experts from 18 countries, the International Criminal Court and non-governmental partners, all working together in The Hague. The participating open-source intelligence experts drafted 45 reports which compile valuable information potentially leading to the locations of deported children. This includes data such as transportation routes that were taken during forced relocations; persons who enabled the deportation, such as directors of children’s orphanages; military units assisting in the deportations; individuals that received deported children; camps or facilities children were brought to, etc.

The multinational initiative aims at assisting ongoing investigations by the Ukrainian authorities, who have documented the forced transfer or deportation of what is estimated to be more than 19,500 children from occupied territories to the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus. Some of these children have been adopted by Russian nationals, while others are being held in re-education camps or psychiatric hospitals.

The event was the third of its kind and the second focused specifically on finding Ukrainian children who had forcibly been transferred or deported from their habitual residence, “an offence that may constitute a war crime under several key international legal frameworks”, Europol says in a press release.

Find out more

Press release