UN Panel to grill Russia on fate of ukrainian children
Moscow will be asked to explain at the UN on Monday what has happened to thousands of Ukrainian children believed to have been forcibly sent to Russia since its 2022 invasion, Kyiv Independent reports.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child -- 18 independent experts -- is set to examine Russia's record over two days, as part of a regular review.
Their lengthy list of concerns was sent to Moscow in the first half of 2023.
They want to know how many children have been "evacuated" to Russia or within Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.
They also want to know what Moscow has done to protect "the right of such children to preserve their identity, including nationality, name and family relations".
Kyiv estimates 20,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia.
Moscow says it wants to protect these children from the fighting. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
