A resident of the Donetsk People’s Republic assisted by the Ombudsman’s Office returned to the Republic two children who spent about nine months in the rehabilitation center of Chernigov in the north of Ukraine. This was reported today in the press service of the Ombudsman’s Office.
“Employees of the Human Rights Ombudsman Office in the Donetsk People’s Republic provided assistance in the return of children born in 2003 and 2004 from the territory of Ukraine. In October 2016, a resident of Donetsk, a woman whose sons have been living in the children’s rehabilitation center of Chernigov since March 2016 approached the Office. After being consulted by our specialists and formalizing travel documents, the woman went to the territory of Ukraine and took her children back. ”
According to press service, the children will undergo therapy conducted by volunteer psychologists of the Ombudsman’s Office.
Earlier, the DPR Human Rights Ombudsman Daria Morozova repeatedly stressed that the issue of returning children transferred from the DPR to the territory controlled by Ukrainian forces, remains vital. According to her, now the Ombudsman’s Office together with UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund – DAN) jointly work on returning of about 500 children.
In the summer of 2015, it was reported that the Republic plans to raise the issue of the return of children at the Minsk talks. Jana Chepikova, the DPR Head adviser for the Rights of the Child, repeatedly appealed to the children’s ombudsman in Ukraine for assistance in the return of children, but little progress has been achieved. Later, in November, to accelerate the process, Chepikova handed over lists of unlawfully transferred children to the Head of the DPR delegation in Minsk Denis Pushilin.
We recall that pupils were unlawfully transferred to the territory controlled by Kiev during the fighting in summer 2014. In particular, 68 children were unlawfully kept by the Ukrainian authorities in the health-improving camp “Izumrudniy Gorod” in Svyatogorsk.
