Ombudsman tells about difficulties of issuing passports to pupils of Kyiv rehabilitation center evacuated to Germany

The process of issuing passports to 29 pupils of the Center for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Children No. 1 of the Service for Children and Family Affairs of Kyiv City State Administration, who are currently under the supervision of the German side, is complicated by differences in understanding international legislation regarding legal representation, said Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets.

"Due to the difference in understanding of international legislation regarding the legal representation of children-pupils of the Center, the process of issuing passports to children is complicated," Lubinets said in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency.

He reported that the children are placed in different locations. Consular officials do not have direct access to them. "Consular officials are granted access for each child separately if the consular staff confirms such a need," he noted.

The Ombudsman also reported that due to the lack of access of the Ukrainian side to the children, it is impossible to ensure their right to grow up in a family environment, since contact between children and potential candidates for adoption does not occur.

Earlier, Lubinets reported that in March 2022, 68 orphans and children deprived of parental care were evacuated from the Center for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Children No. 1 in Kyiv, accompanied by 20 people, to a former youth camp in the city of Wuppertal in Germany. When representatives of the Ombudsman's Office attempted to visit this camp, they were not allowed into the territory due to the lack of accompanying persons from Ukraine - the children were looked after exclusively by representatives of the German side.

According to Lubinets, there were people among the caregivers who had nothing to do with this sphere. Some of them were registered as employees of the relevant institutions only the day before the evacuation, and some were never employed. Each of these men quit immediately after leaving Ukraine. They did not return to their homeland.

In addition, among these persons, according to Lubinets, were a close relative of the head of the Service for Children and Family Affairs of the city of Kyiv and a close relative of the head of the Center for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Children No. 1 of the city of Kyiv.