![]() ![]() Access to education is often curtailed, including as a result of the intensity of the conflict, the targeting of schools, and/or the forced displacement of families. In many conflicts they have been abducted, forcibly recruited, and made to fight as child soldiers. Girls and boys have been targeted for rape, sexual slavery, torture, disappearance, and forcible transfer. In Syria, for example, a significant number of attacks on hospitals in besieged areas destroyed facilities that had provided necessary maternity and post-natal medical care. Investigations of the conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, and Colombia-among many others-have documented the killing and maiming of millions of children in both targeted and indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations and objects, including schools and hospitals. In his fourth visit to Ukraine in early March 2023 (by which time the Prosecution’s application for the arrest warrants had already been filed), Karim Khan, the ICC Prosecutor, indicated that the abduction and transfer of Ukrainian children into Russian territory was a top priority for his Office.Īcross all conflicts, children have been among the principal victims of mass atrocity. In turn, Putin asked after Lvova-Belova’s adoption of a 15-year-old from Donbas. These charges were not altogether a surprise: in a publicized recording of a February 16 meeting between President Putin and Commissioner Lvova-Belova, the two discussed “evacuations” of Ukrainian children to Russia, with Lvova-Belova expressing gratitude to Putin for enabling the transfers. The Chamber underscored that the substance of the warrants would remain secret for the time being “in order to protect victims and witnesses and also to safeguard the investigation.” The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from February 24, 2022. ![]() The warrants, which were issued following applications submitted by the Prosecution in February 2023, allege that both suspects are responsible for the war crimes of unlawful deportation of population (children) and of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. Equally as historic, however, is the prioritization of investigation and seeking warrants for crimes against children. Much attention has focused on the prosecutorial targets: “ going straight to the top” as international legal expert Rebecca Hamilton writes. On March 17, 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued warrants of arrest, in the context of the situation in Ukraine, against Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation. ICC judges issue arrest warrant for Putin over alleged war crimes' Guardian newspaper headline Russia Ukraine war article on March 18, 2023. ![]()
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