Scores of Ukrainian children remain missing after being deported across Russia and occupied territories, while their families continue to search for them, according to human rights investigators. On Thursday, members of the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, an independent probe into Russia’s full-scale invasion, presented their latest report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The investigators, who are not UN staff and are not paid for their work, said they verified the deportation and transfer of 1,205 children from Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine to Russia or other occupied areas. The Commission members are Erik Møse, Pablo de Greiff, and Vrinda Grover.
“Based on new evidence, the Commission has now concluded that the Russian authorities committed two types of crimes against humanity: deportation and forcible transfer of children, as well as their enforced disappearance,” said Møse, the commission’s chair.
Commissioner Pablo de Greiff told reporters that the investigators are “aware of many other cases” and that the Russian authorities “claimed that these relocations were humanitarian evacuations for safety reasons”.
“But the Commission found that four years later, 80 percent of the children from the documented cases have not been returned,” de Greiff said.
“This contravenes international humanitarian law, under which evacuations can only be temporary for compelling reasons of health, medical treatment or safety.”
The Commission’s report states that many parents and legal guardians are unaware of their children's fate and whereabouts.
Instead of establishing mechanisms to facilitate their return, Russian authorities “arranged for the children's long-term placement with families or institutions in 21 regions of the Russian Federation and in occupied areas of Ukraine”, de Greiff said, following a “carefully organized plan” and “pursuant to a policy conceived and executed under the leadership at the highest level of the Russian Federation state apparatus”.
In March 2023, the UN-backed International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with alleged war crimes concerning the deportation and “illegal transfer” of children from occupied Ukraine.
When asked about the Commission's engagement with the Russian authorities on this matter, de Greiff stressed that they had submitted to them “39 written requests for information about different issues, including the issue of children […] and we have never received a reply”.
He also highlighted evidence from some of the 20 percent of children who returned, pointing to several types of mistreatment, including children not receiving sufficient medical care or food.
In one case, the family in which a teenager was placed was “willing to call the police […] because this adolescent kid expressed the desire to return to Ukraine and to his family”. Another case ended in the suicide of a young adolescent, he said.
Turning to the treatment of troops within the Russian Armed Forces, Commissioner Vrinda Grover said that investigators interviewed 85 soldiers who had deserted and that “most of them testified about extreme violence and coercion arbitrarily ordered or practiced by the commanders against their own men.”
“Soldiers described being treated like cannon fodder,” Grover said. “They reported the practice to shoot soldiers, carry out mock executions, severe beatings, tying them to trees or [placing them] in pits.”
“Their testimonies speak of a total disregard for human life and dignity,” she concluded.
De Greiff added that the findings point to “treatment that took place with the knowledge, sometimes with the order and in fact sometimes with the participation of commanders” and not isolated incidents.
The probe also investigated the issue of foreign nationals recruited to fight with the Russian Armed Forces and found that recruits came from 17 countries around the globe.
Grover said that “many were deceived and lured from abroad to the Russian Federation” with the false promise of civilian jobs.
“They were coerced into signing contracts written in Russian language, which they did not understand, and then sent to the front lines,” she said.
In its latest report, the Commission of Inquiry also documented human rights violations among those mobilized for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. These violations range from irregular administrative detention to a lack of access to legal representation, as well as instances of violence against conscientious objectors.
Established by the UN Human Rights Council in March 2022, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine is mandated to "investigate all alleged violations and abuses of human rights, violations of international humanitarian law, and related crimes in the context of the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine," following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24 of that year.
Serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, have become widespread in the ongoing armed assault. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its fifth year, more Ukrainians are being killed, wounded, and traumatized by the violence. The civilian infrastructure on which they depend continues to be destroyed or damaged.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed or injured. War-related humanitarian needs have intensified; an estimated 10.8 million people in Ukraine need humanitarian assistance this year. Some 10 million people have been forced to flee, including nearly 4 million who are internally displaced and at least 5.9 million who are living as refugees worldwide.
However, the actual number of displaced Ukrainians may be much higher since the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) primarily reports refugee figures for those registered in Europe and other host countries. Refugees who have fled to Russia or have been forcibly displaced to Russia are not fully reflected in the UNHCR’s statistics.
Due to intensified shelling, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and ongoing disruptions to essential services, front-line areas in Ukraine and border regions continue to face the greatest humanitarian needs. Repeated missile and drone strikes across the country are causing civilian casualties, damaging homes, and forcing more people to flee.
The conflict’s devastating impact on civilians is further exacerbated by severe and widespread attacks on Ukraine's healthcare system. Over the past four years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has verified more than 2,910 attacks on healthcare facilities, ambulances, and medical warehouses, resulting in 237 deaths and 949 injuries among healthcare workers and patients.
Further information
Full text: Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine (A/HRC/61/61)
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/coiukraine/a-hrc-61-61-auv.pdf