Chairman of Bundestag Defense Committee Strack-Zimmermann on deportation of Ukrainian children by Belarusian Red Cross: Question arises as to how independent organization is
This was stated by the chairman of the Defense Committee of the German Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, informs Censor.NЕТ referring to Ukrinform.
According to Strach-Zimmermann, the ICRC distanced itself from its office in Belarus, which evidently took children from the regions of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia to Belarus. The German politician condemned this practice and called on the organization to make more efforts to investigate the fate of 20,000 Ukrainians who disappeared during the war.
"The horrific reports of the shameful removal of children by the Red Cross in Belarus raise questions about how independently the Red Cross is fulfilling its responsibilities in the current conflict. This is one of a number of reports of abuse and corruption in the work of the Red Cross, especially during the war in Ukraine," said the MP.
She emphasized that the organization's representatives should visit prisons in Russia and "see what is happening to Ukrainian prisoners there."
"The ICRC is the only institution that can get access there at all," the politician reminded and added that the organization should provide a report on what it has done and not done during the 17 months of full-scale war.
As reported, a report was recently published online in which the Secretary General of the Belarusian Red Cross, Dmitry Shevtsov, said during a trip to the TOT of Ukraine that his organization was involved in the "rehabilitation" of Ukrainian children.
The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, stated that after a number of violations by the Belarusian Red Cross, there are sufficient grounds for its expulsion from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
