FAKE: In Mariupol the Red Cross collected medical cards of children with the designation of healthy organs

FAKE: In Mariupol the Red Cross collected medical cards of children with the designation of healthy organs

10 June 2022
FacebookTwitterTelegram
1840

Verification within Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program

The network spreads reports that children’s medical cards describing their healthy organs were allegedly found on the basis of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Mariupol. At the same time, the cards do not seem to contain data on children’s illnesses, but instead contain contacts of parents. Also among the documents allegedly were instructions on the use of weapons, reports on the purchase of incubators for eggs, which are used in laboratories to work with microorganisms.

This is a fake: the ICRC has denied this information, the organization does not collect children’s medical records, weapons manuals on the safety of mines, weapons and other dangerous objects, and incubators are designed for raising poultry.

Screenshot of the publication

The International Committee of the Red Cross notes that the ICRC does not collect children’s medical records and is not involved in organ trafficking, as fictitious reports suggest. There were no children’s medical records in the Committee’s Mariupol office.

Disseminating reports of incubators for working with microorganisms, the authors of these posts suggest that the Red Cross had biolabs. However, this is not confirmed. The Red Cross points out that the organization implements programs that help people become more financially independent in the face of economic problems caused by armed conflict. That is why in recent years the ICRC has been distributing incubators as part of agri-economic programs to help families raise poultry.

Russian officials and state media have been telling similar fakes about so-called “NATO biodevelopments in Ukraine” or “American biolabs” for years, but their statements have never been substantiated by any proven facts. The Ministry of Health of Ukraine emphasizes that all laboratory facilities that exist in Ukraine serve a single purpose – the indication and identification of pathogens of infectious diseases that fall under the regulation of international health regulations.

The activities of the ICRC are purely humanitarian. The so-called instructions on the use of weapons, which are mentioned in fake posts, are reference materials for the safety of the population. The Committee is working to raise public awareness of the dangers of mines and explosives , and the ICRC publishes and distributes reference materials. However, they are not confidential. Here is an example of such instructions from the ICRC. Another alleged instruction on the use of weapons also appears in the video, but it is actually a guide to identifying dangerous munitions. It is being released so that the civilian population knows how to protect themselves when ammunition is found in a combat zone. This manual is not related to the ICRC.

Screenshot with video tutorial

Earlier, VoxCheck had similar fakes about preparing for a provocation with chemical weapons at the ICRC in Mariupol and about dangerous containers for “especially dangerous biomaterials”, which were allegedly found in an underground hospital in Mariupol.

Attention

The author doesn`t work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have no relevant affiliations