MADRID, 10 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The NGO Amnesty International (AI) has warned this Thursday that the forced transfer of the Ukrainian civilian population by Russian troops constitutes war crimes.
“Russian authorities have subjected civilians to forcible transfer and deportation from occupied areas of Ukraine, amounting to war crimes and likely crimes against humanity,” the organization said in a new report.
This report details the forced transfer of civilians from the territories of occupied Ukraine to areas under Russian control by the Russian armed forces, separating minors from their families, suffering torture and arbitrary detention.
“Separating children from their families, and forcing the population to move hundreds of kilometers from their homes are further proof of the serious suffering that the Russian invasion is causing to the Ukrainian civilian population,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
The investigations also show the forced transfer of about a hundred people who were residing in a state institution for the elderly and people with disabilities in Mariupol.
“Russian forces indiscriminately attack and unlawfully kill civilians, destroying countless lives and tearing apart families. No one has been spared, not even children,” the organization laments.
These measures are violating International Humanitarian Law, recalls AI, which has requested that such actions be investigated as crimes against humanity. The NGO has repeatedly called for the authorities responsible for human rights violations to be held accountable.
“The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other relevant authorities must investigate these horrendous crimes, including those committed against members of groups at risk,” Callamard has requested.
“All the people responsible for deportation and forced transfer, as well as for torture and other crimes under International Law committed during the ‘filters’ must be brought to justice,” added the NGO’s general secretary.
For this research, Amnesty has documented concrete cases, after interviewing more than 80 people, both from Mariupol and Kharkov, Lugansk, Jerson and Zaporiyia. Practically the entirety of the interviewees were located, at the time of the interview, in areas controlled by Ukraine or in a third European country.
Most of the victims described coercive conditions in which they had no real choice but to go to Russia or other areas occupied by its troops, explains AI.
In addition, several people stated that they had felt pressured to apply for Russian citizenship, a process that has been simplified for minors presumed to be orphans or separated from their parents, as well as for people with disabilities.
These movements in bureaucratic matters indicate the existence of a deliberate Russian policy in relation to the deportation of civilians, which would demonstrate crimes against humanity.
The laws of the armed conflict prohibit mass or individual transfers of a forced nature, as well as deportations of protected persons from the occupied territory.
