UN experts take Russia to task over deported Ukrainian children and a ‘military agenda’ in schools

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — A panel of U.N.-backed experts that focuses on children’s human rights is calling on Russia to prevent efforts to rewrite school curricula and textbooks to reflect the government’s “political and military agenda,” including in Ukraine. The Committee on the Rights of the Child held hearings in Geneva last month before presenting its findings Thursday on conditions in Russia. The International Criminal Court last year issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, accusing them of deporting and abducting children from Ukraine. The U.N. committee urged Russia to investigate the allegations against the commissioner but didn’t mention Putin. Russia’s mission in Geneva says Moscow will respond to the report.