When war broke out, millions of Ukrainians had to make a life-changing decision to flee their country - with many hoping to return as soon as possible. But for some disabled refugees, this displacement has offered new opportunities, and they now face a dilemma over whether to ever go home.

This is Human Rights Watch's submission to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child's 94th pre-session to highlight areas of concern regarding the government of Russia’s compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

The lower house of the Russian parliament on Thursday passed a bill banning foreigners from using Russian surrogate mothers.

This report highlights the recommendations and priorities that EU decision-makers and national governments can do to support the most vulnerable children and prevent widening inequalities. 

Official figures suggest that over 400 children have been killed and 850 wounded since Russia invaded its neighbor. Another 3,000 have been left without parental care for one reason or another, while about 100,000 minors have had to leave the institutions, such as internat boarding schools, many of which closed when the war began. With 702 boarding institutions as of early 2022, Ukraine held the largest number of children in institutional care in Europe before the war.

KHERSON, Ukraine — Hours after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, health staff at a children's hospital in the south started secretly planning how to save the babies. Russians were suspected of seizing orphan children and sending them to Russia, so staff at the children's regional hospital in Kherson city began fabricating orphans' medical records to make it appear like they were too ill to move.

Olena Merzliakova, a psychologist and Ph.D. in Psychology, shared effective and simple tips for parents. She is one of the experts engaged for the EU-funded hotline established this summer by the UNDP.

Eighty-seven per cent of the Ukrainian refugees to whom Bulgaria has granted temporary protection are women and children, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) representation said in an operational update for Bulgaria, released on November 30.

Russia is set to approve legislation prohibiting foreigners from hiring Russian women to be surrogate mothers for them, the top lawmaker of the Russian State Duma announced Sunday, the country's Mother's Day.

Russia will soon adopt a law barring foreigners from using Russian surrogate mothers, Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house of parliament said on Sunday, the nation's Mother's Day. Paid surrogacy is legal in Russia, but the practice has been criticised by religious groups as commercializing the birth of children.