UN Inquiry Says Russia Committed 'Crimes Against Humanity' in Deporting Ukrainian Children

Moscow's deportation and forcible transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia amounts to a crime against humanity, a United Nations team of investigators said Tuesday, March 10. The UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said it had collected evidence leading it to conclude that "Russian authorities have committed the crimes against humanity of deportation and forcible transfer, as well as of enforced disappearance of children." The probe was established by the UN Human Rights Council shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 
  
The inquiry said Russia had deported or transferred "thousands" of children from occupied areas of Ukraine, of which it had so far confirmed 1,205 cases. "Four years on, 80 percent of the children deported or transferred in the cases investigated by the commission have not returned," it said. Moscow has failed to establish a system facilitating returns, and has instead focused on long-term placement of the children with families or institutions in Russia, while relatives were not informed of their fate. 
  
The commission confirmed its previous finding that Russian authorities had unlawfully deported and transferred children as a war crime "and that they have unjustifiably delayed their repatriation, which is also a war crime." These measures "were not guided by the best interests of the child," and have violated international law, the probe found. 
 
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