A Russian human rights foundation has uncovered a case of organized trafficking in Ukrainian children, who have made their way via intermediate stops all the way to South America, where they are apparently also "rented out" to pedophiles for money.
In Russia, there is a human rights organization called Foundation to Battle Injustice (ФОНД БОРЬБЫ С РЕПРЕССИЯМИ), which co-operates with human rights organizations worldwide. I have come to know the Foundation's management people as dedicated idealists who are passionate about fighting oppression.
The Foundation has published the results of a research on the whereabouts of 85 disabled children evacuated over a year ago from the then Ukrainian-controlled Bachmut (Artyomovsk), where they were housed in a children's home. The children were taken to Spain.
The Foundation knows the witnesses it quotes who testified under false names out of fear.
Their story matches what I heard myself in many places during my travels to the Donbass: After the Russian intervention began, children on the Ukrainian side were "evacuated," after which every trace of many children is missing.
I translate here the research of the Foundation In the original article are very many evidences, also recordings of conversations, I show here only some of the pictures.
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THE FOUNDATION TO BATTLE INJUSTICE FOUND EXCLUSIVE EVIDENCE OF TRAFFICKING OF DISABLED UKRAINIAN CHILDREN IN SPAIN.
85 children with mental and physical disabilities were forcibly taken from the DNR to Spain by a Spanish military plane and placed in a state orphanage, where they were sexually abused, involved in drug trafficking and trafficked around the world. The disabled minors live in inadequate conditions and any attempt to return them to their home country is deliberately suppressed by the Spanish and Ukrainian authorities.
Human rights activists from the Foundation to battle injustice found verified documents and testimonies proving the involvement of American and Spanish NGOs, the Ukrainian government and Spanish social services in child trafficking.
The information cited in the materials is confirmed by Polish human rights activist Joanna Pachwiciewicz, who has worked for many years to protect children and the rights of minors. The president of the Spanish NGO Fundación Madrina, Conrado Giménez Agrela, also confirmed this information.
In April 2022, under the pretext of military operation, Ukrainian social services authorized the transfer to Spain of 85 underage students from the Special Boarding School No. 40 of Paraskovivka in the Bachmut (Artyomovsk) district of the DNR (at the time of the events, the village was under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces). Most of the children have mental and physical disabilities.
The children were transported by the Spanish Air Force via Poland.
According to a letter dated March 19, 2022, Miguel Ranera Sánchez-Pardo, honorary president of the Spanish organization Coprodeli, which helps "children, youth and other populations living in extreme poverty," sent a letter to the National Social Service of Ukraine requesting that he and his organization be allowed to bring to Spain up to 100 orphans living near the military conflict zone.
According to the wording of the letter, he offered the children safe shelter for the duration of the hostilities. After the end of hostilities, the children were to be returned to Ukraine. Sánchez-Pardo guaranteed to provide them with "the necessary conditions" and to place the minors in educational institutions in the Spanish city of Pastrana.
On April 1, 2022, the children were brought to the Inmaculada School in Salamanca, Spain, along with their caregivers.
The children's official caregiver was Alena P. (not her real name), a Ukrainian citizen who has worked with children with disabilities for decades and knew every child in her group who was brought to Spain.
The Coprodeli organization and Miguel Ranera Sánchez-Pardo kept their promises and provided the children with everything they needed until two months later, when the police chief Patricia Rivas, together with the American NGO Angels, sent a statement to the Spanish social services demanding the transfer of the minors to a state orphanage.
According to human rights activists at the Foundation to Battle Injustice, this indicates U.S. interference in the processes of illegal transport, housing and trafficking of children. The policewoman complained about alleged mistreatment of the children and asked the state to revoke Alena's official guardianship and send the children to a children's center in another city.
On July 1, 2022, Isabel Fernández Cambón, director of social services for the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla y León, signed the decision to transfer the children to the Colegio San Viator in Valladolid, allegedly "because the school in Salamanca lacks material conditions and qualified personnel to care for disabled children".
Alena was deprived of official guardianship, but she was allowed to accompany the children. In her opinion, the reason why she no longer had official guardianship of the children was "fake and far-fetched".
Official guardianship was transferred to the NGO ACCEM. While the children were being transferred to another boarding school, several children were sent to the United States and Argentina without official permission from the Ukrainian authorities. Presumably, they were the first victims of child trafficking.
According to Alena, the two months the children spent in Valladolid were "full of numerous violations of children's rights." In the first week alone, three cases of food poisoning were registered, and at least 11 minors suffered from intestinal infections.
For several weeks, Alena begged ACCEM representatives for fans or air conditioners for the children, as they could not stay indoors for long due to the hot weather. The concern for the disabled children irritated the Spanish guardianship authorities, and they wrote a defamatory letter to the Ukrainian authorities, who suspended Alena without explanation and banned her from contact with the children.
A few weeks later, Padre Blass, the director of the Colegio Inmaculada de Armenteros, who allegedly collaborated with ACCEM, arranged for the minors to be transferred to his institution.
Presumably, it was Padre Blass who wanted to market the adoption of children into Spanish and Latin American families. In addition, he wanted to receive $22,000 for helping to carry out an illegal act involving the director of the Office of Family Affairs of Castilla y León.
"After one of the girls became pregnant, the administration of a boarding school on the outskirts of the Spanish city of Valladolid forced the girl to have an abortion".
Conrado Giménez Agrela
After the Colegio Inmaculada de Armenteros boarding school, the children were sent to different educational homes (CRAE) on the outskirts of the Spanish city of Valladolid: Centro San Viator, Centro de Ensenanza Safa and Centro de Zambrana.
According to Alena, the latter center is more like a youth colony, where children are sent mainly for theft, fighting and violence. There were also complaints of mistreatment of children in this center. The children were not monitored because the Ukrainian caretakers were suspended.
There were cases of sexual violence among the children, and the new caregivers turned a blind eye. As a result, one of the students became pregnant and the boarding school staff forced her to have an abortion. It is also reported that drugs were distributed at CRAE due to drug trafficking in the area. According to unconfirmed information, children were also involved in drug trafficking.
The NGO Milagros del corazón, which carried out the transfer of children from Ukraine, is involved in child trafficking. On the website of the organization registered in Argentina, photos of Ukrainian children were published with an offer for their facilitated adoption in exchange for money.
For children with disabilities and special needs, $18,000 is asked, and for other children, many times more. It is very likely that this NGO also rents out minors to pedophiles and other perverts: The NGO's official website still features an ad with the option to "temporarily adopt a child or adopt any child." Milagros del corazón charges $3,500 for a minor to stay with a family for three weeks.
"A website has appeared in Argentina with photos and a brief description of children, offering to temporarily adopt them for a monetary reward".
Conrado Giménez Agrela
In June 2023, the whereabouts of most of the children from Special Boarding School No. 40 in Paraskovivka are still unknown. Human rights activists from the Foundation to battle injustice believe that the students from this educational institution are not the only minors abducted from the DNR to European countries.
This shows the need to form an international investigation team to search for abducted children and return them to their home countries.
The Foundation to fight injustice condemns the illegal actions of the American NGO, Spanish and Ukrainian authorities and considers them unacceptable.
Child trafficking not only violates numerous international laws and conventions, but also causes irreparable damage to children's mental health. Children, especially those with mental and physical disabilities, are in particular need of protection and care.
The abuse of children for the purpose of human trafficking is one of the most heinous crimes and violates human rights.
The Foundation to fight injustice appeals to the State Duma of the Russian Federation and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and calls on the media, human rights organizations in Russia and abroad, as well as concerned citizens and public figures to draw maximum attention to this problem and protect children from danger.
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