CYIL vol. 13 (2022)

CYIL 13 ȍ2022Ȏ IRO: UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN AND THEIR INTERESTS into Germany or other occupied territories was also recorded. The documentation further listed the institution having cared for the child, the date of their IRO (formerly UNRRA) registration and, if applicable, relevant communications with the occupation authorities. An essential part of the process was the ascertainment of the unaccompanied child’s familial relations, especially the facts concerning survival, death, disappearance, or unattainability of parents and close, sometimes even distant, relatives. For the purposes of repatriation, settlement in the current location or resettlement in a third-country, evidence of a child’s nationality was of utmost importance. Particular attention was paid to the search for “racially valuable” 59 children who were removed from their families, abducted for the purpose of Germanization, or seized from mothers who had to perform forced labor during the war. The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 60 declared the forcible transfer of children from one group to another a crime under international law. 61 Germany’s wrongful acts, at that time, did not just breach a treaty obligation, but the general principles of law. 62 Repatriation of children from institutions, foster care, or adoptive families was intended to happen promptly, despite the fact that some of the alternative caregivers did not know the child’s origin or previous fate. 63 According to the principle of reparation, the return of an unaccompanied child to their country of origin was deemed a form of restitution. It meant an attempt at reinstatement of the child’s pre-war personal situation. Or, in other words, the reconstruction of a reality that might have existed if serious breaches of general principles of law had not been committed. 4.2 Individual plans In some cases of unaccompanied children, their nationality remained undetermined or uncertified or the state of nationality refused their repatriation; whereas other children were unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin. Furthermore, certain military directives prohibited repatriation of refugee children having originated from annexed territories. 64 Children who obtained the international legal status of United Nations Unaccompanied Children were temporarily placed into centers. These collective welfare facilities primarily provided for the children’s basic needs and interests, but also prepared their personal documentation for the purposes of eventual resettlement. More precisely, the centers attended to the children’s education, religious upbringing, and physical health as well as offered therapeutic support. Particular attention was given to preparation of plans for the children’s future. One of the permanent, usually irreversible remedies to alleviate the living conditions of unaccompanied children was individual transfer to another country. This project 59 See RuSHA Case ibid fn. 16. 60 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (adopted 9 December 1948, entered into force 12 January 1951) 78 UNTS 277. 61 See ibid art 2(e). 62 See Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide , Advisory Opinion [1951] ICJ Rep 23. 63 The return of these unaccompanied children was arranged immediately after the surrender of Germany. See Zvláštní pátrací oběžník č. 2 Ministerstva vnitra (odbor pro politické zpravodajství) (28 October 1945) Doc no. Z-11924/1945/II. 64 E.g., refugee children originating from the Baltic States.

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