At a Security Council meeting on allegations of forcible displacement of Ukrainian civilians and the use of “filtration” operations by Russian forces, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Peacebuilding Rosemary DiCarlo drew attention to the situation with the number of victims of the war and said she was “extremely concerned” by reports about “filtration camps”.
“Persistent allegations of forced displacement and so-called ‘filtration camps’ run by the Russian Federation and associated local forces are extremely alarming. Such complaints should be investigated in cooperation with the competent authorities,” urged the Deputy Secretary General.
In addition to DiCarlo, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and the head of the UN Human Rights Office in New York, Ilze Kehris, gave a briefing on the situation, saying that “about seven million people are internally displaced in Ukraine and millions have sought asylum outside the country” , “in every possible direction”.
“Human rights violations in territories occupied by Russia or controlled by Russian-affiliated armed groups have also caused people to flee. These conditions meant that those fleeing the danger were often forced to evacuate in any possible direction, regardless of their preferences,” said Keris.
The office of Ilze Kehris has documented a “significant number” of civilians who have been displaced to Russia, including about a dozen cases in which the Russian Armed Forces ordered civilians in Mariupol to leave their homes or shelters, transferring them to territories controlled by Russia or Ukraine. the Russian Federation itself.
“After being resettled on Russian territory in cases documented by the UN, civilians had freedom of movement. Many Ukrainians chose to leave for other countries or return to Ukraine. However, those who decided to return did not receive financial resources or other support for this,” the human rights activist explained, stressing that for those who were taken to remote regions of Russia, the cost of returning became “particularly prohibitive.”
Also, according to the UN Human Rights Office, there are credible allegations of forcible transfer of unaccompanied children to Russia or Moscow-occupied Ukrainian territory.
“We are concerned that the Russian authorities have adopted a simplified procedure for granting Russian citizenship to children left without parental care, and that these children have the right to be adopted by Russian families,” Ilze Kehris told the Security Council.
According to Article 50 of the 4th Geneva Convention, Russia is prohibited from changing the personal status of these children, including citizenship.
Ilze Kehris said she was particularly concerned that the plans announced by the Russian authorities did not appear to include measures for family reunification or other guarantees of the child’s best interests.
In terms of filtering fields, according to “credible reports” obtained by the UN, there are numerous violations of human rights, including the rights to liberty, security of person and privacy.
“In cases documented by our Directorate during the “filtration”, the Russian Armed Forces subjected people to body searches, sometimes with forced exposure, and detailed interrogations about personal backgrounds, family ties, political views and allegiances. They inspected personal belongings and collected personal data, photographs and fingerprints,” Keris said.
“We are particularly concerned that women and girls are at risk of sexual violence during screening procedures,” the UN spokesman added.
Before the start of the Security Council meeting convened by Albania and the United States of America, US Representative to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield argued that Russia’s “filtering” summed up “the chain of horrors that are happening in Europe in real time, and this echoes a very dark period of the past”.
“We have evidence that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens, including children, were interrogated, detained and forcibly deported, and some of them sent to very remote areas. (…) Some simply disappear,” the ambassador said.
“That is why we are here today to clarify what is going on in these filtration centers and demand that Russia stop these operations, allow independent monitors to access these facilities and check on the well-being of these individuals,” Thomas-Greenfield added.
In turn, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said that all this was “fiction” and “propaganda” by Ukraine and its Western allies against Moscow.
Accusing the US delegation of “cynicism,” Nebenzya recalled that former President Donald Trump’s administration even held back Mexican migrants seeking asylum in the US under “inhumane” conditions and “separated families.”
Even in the field of comparisons, the Russian diplomat mentioned the Guantanamo prison, in which the US authorities “illegally, without investigation and trial” kept several prisoners.
Nebenzya advocated that no Ukrainian should be prevented from leaving Russia, and said that his country was the one that received Ukrainian refugees the most.
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