Ukraine on deportation of children: OSCE report can be used to bring Russia to account

The conclusions of the OSCE report on the forcible transfer and/or deportation of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation can be used within national and international mechanisms to bring the perpetrators of recorded war crimes to justice.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said this in a statement regarding the "Report on Violations and Abuses of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law, War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, Related to the Forcible Transfer and/or Deportation of Ukrainian Children to the Russian Federation," according to Ukrinform.

The ministry said that the report prepared by an independent mission of experts of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism is the first separate international report devoted to the problem of Russia's illegal transfer of Ukrainian children. At the same time, Russia refused to cooperate with the mission.

Among the key conclusions of the report, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry mentioned the following ones:

• the forcible transfer of children by Russia may amount to a crime against humanity of "deportation or forcible transfer of population";
• non-consensual evacuation is a violation of international humanitarian law;
• deported children find themselves exposed to a pro-Russian information campaign;
• changing the citizenship of Ukrainian children and their illegal adoption is a violation of the IV Geneva Convention;
• the Russian Federation creates various obstacles for families seeking to get their children back.

According to the ministry, the report also recorded numerous and repeated violations of the interests and rights of children stipulated by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the cumulative effects of multiple violations give rise to very serious concerns about the violation of the right of displaced Ukrainian children to be free from torture and ill-treatment and other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

"Ukraine emphasizes that the forcible transfer or deportation of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation may amount to genocide in accordance with Article II of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The conclusions of the report can be used within national and international mechanisms for bringing to justice the perpetrators of the crimes recorded in the report," the ministry said.