Russia’s federal government is operating a large scale, systematic network of camps and other facilities that has held at least 6,000 children from Ukraine within Russia-occupied Crimea and mainland Russia from February 2022 to February 2023. The roles played by forty-three (43) facilities have been identified and their locations have been subsequently verified at the time of this report. These findings are based on a conservative reading of data confirmed to date and released due to the concerning nature of the trends identified. Additional data analyzed by Yale HRL suggests that the total numbers of facilities and children being held are likely significantly higher than can be reported at this time. These facilities appear to serve a range of purposes, including what Yale HRL terms ‘re-education,’ an effort to ostensibly make children more pro-Russia in their personal and political views.
Children with clear guardianship status predating the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia appear primarily targeted for re-education camps and similar facilities. Both those purported to be orphans and those who were residents of state institutions appear mostly targeted for deportation to Russia’s territory for adoption and/or placement in foster care. Many children taken to camps are sent with the consent of their parents for an agreed duration of days or weeks and returned to their parents as originally scheduled.
Other children have been held for months at these camps, including hundreds of children whose status is unknown; at the time of this report, it is unclear if they have been returned to their families. This report has identified two camps where children’s scheduled return date has been delayed by weeks. At two other camps identified, children’s returns have been indefinitely postponed.
The separation of children from their parents for indefinite periods documented in this report, even if initial consent for their temporary relocation during an armed conflict was originally obtained, can constitute a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Some of the alleged actions of Russia’s federal government and its proxies detailed in this report, such as unnecessarily expediting the adoption and fostering of children from Ukraine during the current emergency, could constitute a potential war crime and crime against humanity in some cases.