Commentaries by Laurie R. Blank

Forcible Transfer of Children in Ukraine: An Element of Genocide?

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Forcible Transfer of Children in Ukraine: An Element of Genocide?

Laurie R. Blank

April 21, 2022 11:09:51 am

In late March, Ukrainian authorities reported that Russian forces had forcibly transferred over two thousand children from the Russian-occupied Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine into Russia. Other reports note that Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner asserts that more than 121,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia, where the government is reportedly preparing the necessary [...]

THIS DAY @ LAW

WWI gas attack on Canadians led to first chemical weapons ban

On April 24, 1915, the German army used chlorine gas against Canadian troops at Ypres. Gas was later employed by British and French forces against the Germans. Learn more about early efforts by the Red Cross to ban chemical weapons and review the June 1925 Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.

Library of Congress created

On April 24, 1800, U.S. President John Adams approved $5,000 to fund the establishment of the U.S. Library of Congress.

Learn more about the history of the U.S. Library of Congress.