Rights groups have called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Belarus and Russia, saying they have proof that hundreds of Ukrainian children were forcibly taken to Belarus during Russia's full-scale invasion and are being "reeducated" to turn against their homeland.
The Ukraine-based Zmina human rights center said on September 23 that its experts, along with colleagues from Freedom House and Ukraine's Regional Human Rights Center, filed a report with The Hague-based court documenting the "political indoctrination and military reeducation of Ukrainian children on the territory of Belarus."
The groups said documents and exclusive data confirm the "participation of Belarusian agents in the eradication of the Ukrainian ethnic identity of children, turning them into enemies of their own people."
The report says 18 entities in Belarus were identified as being involved in exposing at least 2,219 Ukrainian children aged 6 and older to forms of "discriminatory pressure."
Russia has come under heavy criticism for transfers of Ukrainian children to Russia, with the ICC issuing an arrest warrant in March 2023 for President Vladimir Putin over the issue.
Earlier this year, evidence gathered by RFE/RL's Belarus Service and Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, found similar evidence to the report from the rights groups on September 23.
RFE/RL found that Belarus was organizing "vacations" for children from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine where the children were taught to identify with concepts that both Moscow and Minsk promote.
According to the United Nations, Russian agents have taken at least 19,546 children to that country from Ukraine since February 18, 2022.
The report by the rights groups also gives a detailed look at the financing and ways the "reeducation program" was being implemented.
The rights organizations said the "indoctrination and militarization of Ukrainian children" carried "elements of crimes against humanity."
Zmina did not disclose the identities of the Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian citizens implicated in the crimes.
The authoritarian ruler of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, said last week while speaking with the Russian-installed leader of occupied parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk region that Ukrainian children in Belarus "are provided with medical treatment and resting."