Stolen Childhood: How the Belarusian Regime is Erasing Ukrainian Children's Identity through Displacement, Re‑education, and Militarization

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian military invasion in February 2022, Russian authorities have intensified their policy of displacing Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. However, the role of the Belarusian regime in aiding and abetting this policy has not received adequate attention. This report seeks to address this oversight by detailing how the Belarusian regime displaces, indoctrinates, reeducates, and militarizes Ukrainian children in the service of the broader Russian state policy of eradicating Ukrainian national and cultural identity.

Download the Full Report

Key Findings

• Aleksandr Lukashenko personally laid the foundation for the displacement of Ukrainian children to Belarusian territory.
• The Belarusian regime is actively implementing the Russian state policy of destroying Ukrainian identity through systematic indoctrination and reeducation of children.
• The Belarusian regime is complicit in the Russian militarization of Ukrainian children.
• The Union State of Russia and Belarus plays a critical role in financing and organizing the displacement, indoctrination, reeducation, and militarization of Ukrainian children.
• Government-organized nongovernmental organizations (GONGOs) play an essential role in the Belarusian regime’s implementation of Russian policy.
• The Belarusian and Russian regimes are exploiting Ukrainian children for propaganda purposes.

Recommendations

The report exhorts foreign governments, the Ukrainian government, the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, international donors, and civil society to:

• Call on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to launch an investigation into the displacement, indoctrination, and militarization of Ukrainian children by the Belarusian regime, and to issue arrest warrants for: Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko; the secretary of state of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, Russian politician Dmitry Mezentsev; the Union State’s Council of Ministers chair, Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin; and Aliaksei Talai, the Belarusian paralympic athlete and head of the Aliaksei Talai Foundation, which has been central to the project of displacing Ukrainian children to Belarus.
• Work together to create a single international mechanism to facilitate the return of Ukrainian children to Ukraine from Belarusian territory.
• Advocate for and adopt sanctions against officials of the Belarusian regime and Union State of Russia and Belarus specifically in response to their crimes against Ukrainian children.

The report will be accompanied by a submission to the ICC calling for the issue of arrest warrants for the four above-mentioned individuals.

About the Report

This report was jointly prepared by Freedom House, Human Rights Centre ZMINA, the Regional Center for Human Rights, and Human Rights Center Viasna. The Association of Law Enforcers of Belarus (BELPOL) provided confidential data regarding Ukrainian children displaced to Belarus. The methodology was prepared by Human Rights Centre ZMINA and the Regional Center for Human Rights. Human Rights Centre ZMINA, the Regional Center for Human Rights, and Human Rights Center Viasna conducted the open-source investigation and verification. The research, investigation, and advocacy efforts were coordinated by Freedom House