24/05/2023

The Moscow Mechanism Report: the Forcible Transfer and Deportation of Ukrainian Children

In their last report, the OSCE Mission team revealed their findings on the deportation of Ukrainian children. Which principles of International Humanitarian Law protect displaced children? What are the most common circumstances of children's displacement?

The Mission of experts, composed of our researcher Veronika Bílková and her colleagues Cecilie Hellestveit and Elīna Šteinerte, tasked to investigate the issue of Ukrainian children abduction, and composed of the three authors of this blog was set up on 4 April 2023 and had mere three weeks to fulfil its mandate. During that period, the experts engaged in extensive research of written documents, including international and national legal acts, reports by international organizations and NGOs, political statements and social media posts. They also conducted over 25 online or in-person interviews, mainly with representatives of IGOs,  NGOs, human rights defenders, lawyers, and journalists as well as several victims and witnesses.