Forcible transfer of Ukrainians to Russia is war crime – Human Rights Watch

“Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Russian and Russian-affiliated officials have forcibly transferred Ukrainian civilians, including those fleeing hostilities, to areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia or to the Russian Federation, a serious violation of the laws of war amounting to a war crime and a potential crime against humanity,” reads the report of the Human Rights Watch.

It is underscored that Russian and Russian-affiliated authorities also subjected thousands of these Ukrainian citizens to a process referred to by Russia as “filtration,” a form of compulsory security screening, in which they typically collected civilians’ biometric data, including fingerprints and front and side facial images; conducted body searches, and searched personal belongings and phones; and questioned them about their political views.

“Ukrainian civilians were effectively interned as they waited to undergo this process, with many reporting that they were housed in overcrowded and squalid conditions, for periods as short as several hours for up to almost a month,” the human rights organization says.

The report documents the forcible transfer of Ukrainian civilians from Mariupol and Kharkiv region to Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

“Unlike combatants who, once captured, are held as prisoners of war (POWs) and may be moved to enemy territory, the forcible transfer of civilians is prohibited under international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, and can be prosecuted as a war crime and a crime against humanity,” Human Rights Watch emphasizes.

The report describes various kinds of pressure the Russian military and other Russian and Russian-affiliated officials used to make Ukrainian civilians fleeing hostilities go to Russia or the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic”.

The report also describes the many challenges Ukrainian civilians faced and the abuses they suffered as they attempted to flee Mariupol for Ukrainian-controlled territory and avoid going to Russia, or as they tried to leave Russia for a third country.

In addition, the human rights defenders documented the cases when the Ukrainian citizens forcibly deported to Russia were pressured to sign, and witnessed other people signing, documents stating that they had witnessed war crimes by Ukrainian forces.

At the end of July, Human Rights Watch published a report on Russian crimes in southern Ukraine.

Human Rights Watch collected facts about the executions and torture of Ukrainians during the Russian occupation in Kyiv and Chernihiv regions.

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